Discovering the Other Side
by the-last-breath
Summary: Timid and somewhat shy Gabriella has a secret…a secret that she won’t tell anyone…not even the famous Troy Bolton. He has enough to worry about with his ex-girlfriend,the paps,and his upcoming movie HMS3.Can they both handle everything? TxG! first story!
1. Drenched with Orange Juice

**Summery:Troy Bolton is sexy, cute, and very I also mention that he was a celebrity...well when he meet up with a quite peculiar girl Troy would do anything to get with her while trying to finish his big movie High School Musical 3. But Gabriella is trying to hide away a secret that she doesn't want anyone to know because if anyone finds out her life as well as the boy she has fallen in love could be ruin forever. **

**A/N:Hey everyone..how's everyone doing..Just to let everyone no this is my first story...every I mean I have never written a story unless it was assigned to me in class. So I don't want this to be really long but just a few things. I'm putting a rating M on this story for later chapter...I'm going to try and get my creative side out when we have our troyella scenes so if it's too much just skip over them or something...Oh and please review...I'll def accept constructive criticism but no flamers I'm not to that point where I'm like I don't give a fuck about what you think about my story...since this is my first one...but please review and read and if you have any question any at all just hit me up...I'll answer it as best as I can...So on with the story!**

DISCLAIMER FOR WHOLE STORY!: I own nothing that has to do HSM. Though I wished I owned Zac Efron who plays Troy Bolton...he's sooo yummy...whoo I got the shivers...lol

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Chapter 1

Being caught outside leaning on the backdoor of your now ex-girlfriend's house shirtless would have made a lot of money for a paparazzi if he was caught. He could just see it in his headlines now. TROY BOLTON: KICKED OUT FOR GOOD! He gritted his teeth together and closed his eyes tightly as he tried to understand what had just happen. To those who knew him, and saw him in this particular situation would just say that this happened all the time…just do what you always do…apologize and you'll be once again the cutest couple on the planet. He didn't think so this time. Not after this fight or argument or whatever the hell you wanted to call it. Troy turned around and looked up at the door with a hard look on his face. He hit it once banging his fist on the door, before turning around and making his way down the steps and towards his truck, kicking at a random bush. He turned around quickly as he heard the front door open and he stopped walking standing still his eyes narrowing.

He watched as a mad looking brunette opened the door. Her light brown hair was in a high pony tail, her green eyes were blazing with anger, and her skin was glowing with a deep tan. Troy opened his mouth to speak but she beat it to him, by lifting her arm and throwing a wet blue t-shirt, hitting him in his face. He groaned a little, as the shirt smacked his face. Having a wet shirt being thrown against his face hurt.

"Take you fucking shirt and get off my property!" She screeched at him.

Troy let the shirt drop in his hands before turning around muttering a soft "bitch." He reached his black on black truck opening the door, got in and slammed it shut. He threw the shirt over to the passenger seat and sat there looking at the girl that had been in his life for the past two years. She was leaning against her door; her arms crossed shooting daggers towards his truck. He sighed and shook his head. Thinking about what had occurred.

Of course it all had started with the paparazzi. Them and those damn pictures. They were always ruining someone's life. Always taking pictures at angles to make it look as though he was doing something he shouldn't…which he wasn't by the way. But that wasn't what it seemed like to her. No she had to believe those stupid people. She couldn't take him at his word. Yeah his word meant shit. Well to her anyways. Besides… "Pictures don't lie" she had said thrusting the paper in his arms.

He hadn't done anything wrong. At all. All he had done was go out to eat with a fellow co-worker. What in the hell was wrong with that. Especially since it was Sharpay. One of his closest friends. But yet she found something wrong with it when the paps took a picture of him and Ashley hugging, making it look like they were really kissing. How they managed to get that Troy would never have known. So when she saw the pictures she immediately called Troy out on it telling him to explain himself and when he had…well she didn't believe him.

They had argued…she had cried….he had mentioned that if she was going to act all bitchy about something that didn't even happen then maybe they should just break-up. Of course that got her on another rollercoaster ride. She was such a drama queen. Slinging words around like I hate you and I wish you were never in my life, your such a bastard and jackass. It had hurt Troy when he had first heard them but after they had sunk in a little he had become quiet angry also, slinging the words right back at her. She had then proceeded to push him out of her house and slam the door in his face without his shirt. Yeah him losing his shirt was another story. Of course she had to be even more dramatic as always, and she drenched his shirt with a couple of orange juice. Troy had then took his shirt off and threw it in her face, and that was why he was shirtless.

He sighed as he looked up at the pretty girl that was still in the driveway ,shaking his head in amazement before he put his key in the ignition turned it and pulled out of her driveway and making his way from her house. Of course when he reached the gates he had to slow down just a bit just to make sure that he didn't hit or kill any of the people that had ruined his life. He was glad that he had the tinted windows placed on his windows but that didn't stop them from taking a few pictures form the windshield. The flashing of the camera didn't blind. He was pretty use to it now days. He sighed heavily pressing his lips together tightly. He really didn't feel like messing with these guys today at all. He didn't know why anyone would want to make a living out of stalking someone else's life. Was that really why they would put on the world for…to make other people's lives a living hell.

The way his life was right now he really didn't need any more stress put on him. And breaking up with her had done just that. Not only had it brought stress but it bought a bit of a heartache. He had been dating her for two years. That was a long ass relationship…especially for someone in this kind of business. It wasn't the type of heartache where he wouldn't be able to eat or sleep, but it was just a little prick that kept pricking his heart. He couldn't believe he just broke up with her! He knew that for the next couple of weeks every interview every talk show…even in her personal life was going to about why they had broke up. And tot tell the truth Troy didn't want to have anything to do with it. He knew that it was probably for the better. They had broken up and gotten back together plenty of times, and he didn't think that that was the way a relationship was suppose to be. But he had to do what he had to do, fuck what other people had to say about it.

He made his way to where he was staying. A hotel. Of course it was one of the more elaborate one's, also it was more quiet and peaceful. Well, once he got inside his room. Most of the time he had fans and the paparazzi standing outside of the hotel waiting for either him or one of his co-workers to make an appearance. He was a bit surprised that no one had figured out what hotel he was in now. No one had blabbed and he was appreciative of that. And that was what he needed right now. Especially since he was suppose to be going to New Mexico soon to get the new script to the new movie he was going to be starring in. He needed some time to think because he had a lot to think about. And right now…well…it just didn't feel like a good time. He jumped slightly as he turned the corner to where the hotel he was staying at, as his cell phone vibed in his pocket. He reached in it taking it out looking at who was calling. He rolled his eyes and pushed the ignore button telling himself that he would call his publicist as soon as he feeling up to it. Lord knew what that women wanted right now…but whatever it was he didn't want to be bothered with it.

He parked in the basement garage before taking an elevator up to the eighth floor. His orange juice soaked shirt was thrown over his shoulder as the elevators doors open to reveal a long spacious hallway. He walked to his room, sighing loudly as he swiped the card in the lock. He groaned outloud as his phone rang again. As soon as he entered he threw it and the shirt on the small black couch. that was placed against a wall, and sixty inched flat screen television hanging on the wall across from it. The room was pretty simple well…except for the television. He didn't really ask for much when he was checked into a hotel. Just a bed and a huge television to watch a game if one was on. The room was divided into two rooms. When you first walked in there was a little kitchenette off to the left, where a small refrigerator, a microwave, and a small two seat island bar sat. The floor had soft white carpet that covered it's entirety. Two huge windows let some sunlight, but not much since he had the blinds closed. The next room was his bedroom. A simple queen size bed that had his clothes thrown on top of it, a small table, and a bathroom off to the right. Yeah it wasn't much but then again he didn't ask for much. He went to the kitchenette taking a bottle of water out of the refrigerator before going to the bedroom slamming the door shut and falling back on his bed placing his hands on his eyes.

He didn't know how he was going to get through the next year being next to the girl that he had just broken up with, especially when she was mad as hell towards him. They had rehearsals, filming, promotions, as well as premieres that they would have to do together. He couldn't just drop her like a normal person hoping to never see her again in his life because that just wasn't what happened in his life. God she played his love interest in the movie. How was he going to get through that? He turned over on his side closing his eyes. It wasn't like he could just fall out of love with her. Was it really even love? Or did everyone just expect them to be together so they did without knowing what they were doing. Was it love or not? Troy groaned loudly. Great! Now he was questioning if he even really loved her or not. That was just want he needed.

He stayed in bed as he heard his cell phone go off once more and he took a drink of his water, as he ignored it. A few minutes the phone next to the bed that was sitting on top of the small end table rang loudly. Troy quickly picked it up annoyed at the fact that people have been calling him. Couldn't they just leave him the hell alone?

"What?" He said roughly into the receiver.

"Wow. That was rude." The voice on the other end said. "I could have been the pope or something and you would have been rude to the pope. You could be going to hell right now."

"What do you want Chad?'' Troy asked laying back down on the bed this time on his back. "Right now is not a very good time."

"Well let's see I had just got out the shower when—"

"And why in the fuck do I need to know you just got out the shower?" Troy interrupted.

"Let me finish ass. Now as I was saying I had gotten out of the shower and I happen to glance down at my phone and was surprised that I had missed fifteen calls. Fifteen! And then once I cleared all those I realized that my voice mailbox was filled, you wanna tell me who in the fuck was leaving me messages?"

"Kathleen?" Troy answered.

"Exactly. Now you wanna tell me why she was called me fifteen times and thought it was okay to blow up my fucking mailbox."

Troy sighed and crossed his arms. "Umm…maybe because we broke up."

"Damn Troy. You two break up like every week. I don't need my phone blowing up because you can't control your female."

"I think it's for good this time, Chad."

"Yeah okay." He said with doubt in his voice.

"No I mean it. We're over. Though. Nothing anymore."

"What happened this time?"

"She saw some stupid as pictures of me and Sharpay. All we were doing was hanging out and we hugged but of course she took it the wrong way and…well you know her."

"hmmm…you sound serious this time."

"I am serious. I'm though playing with her. If she doesn't trust me than…hell I don't know what to do. But I'm not going to keep trying to prove myself over and over to her. "

"What about rehearsals and stuff? Won't that be a bit awkward?"

Troy shrugged his shoulders. "Well I was just thinking about that. I guess we're just going to have to get through it until this movie comes out. Then we're finished."

"I'm sorry man. Really I am."

"Don't be. I don't need her in my life right now anyways." Troy said trying to put on a front.

"Well I guess there will be no more Troyleen around." Chad said laughing.

"Oh dude. Please don't say that. That's like the worse couple name ever."

"Well listen I gotta go, picking up Taylor tonight taking her out on a little date. She's been complaining that I'm acting like Cole now. "

"Oh well tell her I said hi and I guess I'll see both of you later."

"Bye dude."

Troy hung up the phone got under the covers closing his eyes falling into a light sleep. All he wanted was some peace…some peace and quiet because his brain and hectic and noisy.

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If there was one word to describe Gabriella Montez at Jefferson high school it would be "who? " she had gone there for two and a half years she didn't think that one person knew who she was. It wasn't that she was just your typically, quiet shy girl who hated having any kind of attention thrown on her. She just wasn't very comfortable around these kids. These rich-stuck-up- spoiled brats. She could be vocal if she wanted to but then again she was afraid that if she was she would completely humiliate herself in every way possible known to human kind. She would rather sit back and observe than to get into the middle of their oh-so-complicated-lives. She wouldn't blame it all on the other kids at her school who didn't include her in on certain activities…she herself hadn't exactly approached them either. And that included all sorts of reason on her end. Though what she lacked in social skills she made up in educational skills.

Being a straight a student took some time and skill especially in the different predicaments that she was put in everyday. She could get lost in her studying. Telling herself that if she studied long enough and hard enough it would take away the pain, and then one day she would be able to leave this hell hole. The hell hole that she had to return to everyday. She tried to stay at the school as long as she could. She tried to stay out of that hell hole as long as she could but no matter how long she was away, she always had to return to it.

As soon as the last bell of the day rang throughout the school student poured out the classroom. Wanting to get home, get as far away from school as possible. She was not one of the students that couldn't wait until they got home, instead she had made her way slowly to her locker, taking out the books that she would for study tonight…something to keep her mind off of it. She slammed the locker shut before throwing her arms though the straps of the pink and black backpack and she made her way to the library. She walked quickly wanting to get there as soon as possible, knowing that if she got there fast it would be a long time until she had to leave.

She past a group of girls that were talking and laughing and sighed. Gabriella had been a bit concerned lately about herself. She had wondered about why she didn't have as much as other people. Well she knew why she didn't always have the nicest stuff, but that wasn't what bothered her. What bothered her was that she didn't have one friend. Not one. Usually the losers at the school had another loser as a friend…well those losers at this school did have friends but she wasn't one of them. How can someone survive though high school without one friend to talk to, or laugh with, or get into a fight with? Well Gabriella could. Not one since freshman year. Yeah when she was in middle school she had people talk to her every now and again but still…they weren't friends. Elementary school was a different story. Almost everyone liked everyone else so that didn't really count.

When she reached the library she made her way over to a corner and sat in a hard chair her back towards the window. She took out her book, giving a heavy sigh before opening it and reading it. She had tried to concentrate on what was in front of her but her mind was not working with her today. Life kept getting in the way. Here she was a seventeen year old junior in high school and she was in the library studying for a non-existing test. What kinda person was she? She should be out with a group of friends at the mall, or at the skate park, or even at McDonalds or something.

She pushed the dark strands of hair behind her ears before closing her chocolate eyes and sighing. At this particular point absolutely nothing was going through her brain. She was actually trying to figure out what to think about. She was thinking that she couldn't believe that she was actually getting a headache from trying to think about what to think about. She laughed to herself as she continued to play mind games to herself. She was so weird.

Her hands went instantly towards her book bag when she heard her cell phone go off. She knew for a fact that it wasn't anyone calling. It was an alarm. She had basically just bought the cheap cell phone to tell the time and to show off but then again she had no one to show it too. She flipped open the phone gasping lightly. Of course of all nights this would be the night that she would forget. She had to fill this random request for some reason, a reason that was not told to her. Maybe just because. She did a lot of things for people just because without any explanation or whatsoever. She bit her lip as she placed her books back in her bag and made her way out of the library.

Usually when she was trying to waste time she would walk home. Yeah it took about an hour and a half to walk but when she was in a hurry like she was now she caught the bus. Some people thought the bus was dirty and disgusting as it was but she didn't think it was that bad. You got to see all sorts of people on the bus that you wouldn't normally see in strict society. Sometimes she would just sit there and observe people, how they talked to each other, or reacted when some really huge person would get on the bus and sit next to them or if someone with some bad body odor came on. Then you had your funny ones like the drunks and the people that were high. Gabriella laughed to herself as she stood at the bus stop thinking about the time when a guy had walked on the bus higher than a plane. He had sat next to her and reeked of marijuana. He had looked at her and told her that she looked like a SugarDaddy and that he had the munchies. Gabriella couldn't help but to laugh and was glad that the guy finally got off the bus and stopped referring to her as candy.

The bus finally arrived after ten minutes or so. She got on running her bus pass through the slot and took a seat in the back. She was surprised that it wasn't packed; it usually was filled with kids getting out of school and stuff. She checked her phone looking at the time, urging the bus driver to drive faster. If she didn't have dinner ready there was going to be hell to pay.

The bus finally let her off two minutes towards her house and she ran towards it her book bag bouncing on her back. She ignored everything as soon as she entered focusing on just going to her room for the moment to put up her stuff. She didn't want to see what mess was left around. She didn't want to see any surprises or anything like that. She just wanted to do what she had to do right now. She placed her book bag in her closet, taking the shirt that she had on off and putting on a white tank top. Her eyes for some reason wondered over to the stack of DVDs that were lying on her floor. She couldn't believe that she had left those out. If he found out where she had gotten the money to get those well…she would probably be dead since it was them that she got the money from…more like stole the money from, but at this point she didn't care. It wasn't her fault if he had money laying around for her to just pick up when she saw it. Luckily he was always too drunk to notice when money went missing. So when she did take money she usually just took it in small increments. She wouldn't have to do that if he would let her get a job. But no. Her place was at home, with him.

She grabbed the DVDs looking at them and smiling. A few were some scary movies; some Harry Potter movies, a couple of romances and, the best movie of all time High School Musical 1 and 2. Okay so maybe they weren't the best but they were to her. Yeah being seventeen and watching Disney movies was one of the best parts in Gabriella's life. Disney movies were different than you all around teen movies. In the regular teen movie things went wrong and in the end they sometimes didn't get their happily ever after. Every Disney movie she watch it was always a happy every after. She was sure that there was probably a movie or two that wasn't like that but she hadn't run across one. She would just watch them, putting herself in the characters situation knowing that in the end it would all be alright. Always. But not in real life. Not in her life. It would never be alright. She wouldn't have her happy ending. Her eyes looked down at the HSM cases. Hey eyes went instantly towards the blue eye beauty. You couldn't help but look at Troy Bolton when you looked at the cases. He was every girls dream...her's as well...she sighed getting lost in his still picture. Ohh. Disney Movies, it wasn't like she had anything else to do. She heard that the third was already in the making and it was going to be on the big screens. There was no way she was going to go miss that. Even if she had to go see it herself, she was going.

She sighed as she pushed the DVDs under her mattress as well as the small portable DVD player. Yeah…he didn't need to know about that either. She sighed as she turned around and walked out of her bedroom door, closing the door. Time to make dinner.


	2. Being Punk'ed?

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A/N: Okay since I alredy had this written I'm going to post it on up...Two in one night...hmmm..

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Chapter 2

Was it truly over? Was it for real? Could this really be happening? Troy was somewhat in shocked when he looked at his cell phone when he woke up. It had been a week and he hadn't heard from her not once. Not once. No call, or email, no text. No calling Chad telling him to call Troy. It was truly over. Troy laid in his bed not bothering moving while he thought. His arm was thrown across his eyes and he took several deep breaths. He had just returned home last night, to his real home, and was relieved, that he was once back somewhere where he was familiar with. He wasn't sad, but maybe he should have been. He wasn't angry, but maybe he should have been. No the only emotion that was going through him right now was surprise. Usually by this time she would be blowing up his phone wanting him back. Saying that she was sorry and that she loved him. But not this time. Troy didn't get any sorry's or I love you's and he didn't really care. The only thing he actually did care about was if she was going to go to the press about this. Kathleen could be viscous if she wanted too, and Troy had supposedly hurt her. Would she make him out to be the bad guy? Turn everyone on him? He sighed before opening his eyes and sitting up in his bed. He really didn't want to think about her right now. She was giving him a headache and for once he didn't have to feel guilty about not thinking about her.

He got out the bed shivering slightly as the cold air hit his bare legs. He scratched his firm stomach, before making his way to the bathroom. After using the bathroom he started the shower, thoroughly washing his body. He ran his fingers though his scalp making sure to get all of the oil and whatever the hell else was in his hair, gel and such. He shivered lightly and goosebumps rose on his body as he stepped out of the shower. He grabbed a towel running it over his body drying the drops of water off before he threw the towel in the corner. He continued to get ready for his day brushing his teeth, and washing his face, naked. Why should he cover up when there was no one around but him? Besides, he liked walking around clothless…well when he was in his home, with all the windows and blinds closed of course. He wasn't ashamed of what he had, because what he had was plenty. Troy smiled before running his tongue across his teeth and walking out of the bathroom. He picked up a plain black tee-shirt putting it on as well as a pair of black boxers, dark blue jeans, and a his black pair of converse shoes.

He stomach rumbled loudly just as his cell phone went off. He looked at it for a moment praying to God It wasn't who it thought it would be. He picked it up looking down at the screen and sighed, a smile coming to his lips.

"About time you broke it off with her." The female voice said.

"Oh hi Troy, how are you, you okay." Troy said sarcastically, "I'm so happy you called to see that I was okay, and not just wondering about Kathleen and I."

"Oh come on Troy you and her were going downhill anyways. I just helped it along." Sharpay laughed.

"Thanks about that by the way. You know you're going to have to watch your back once we start working again right."

"Yeah right. She wouldn't do anything. And destroy her reputation of miss goody two shoes…yeah right. Plus I didn't really do anything. I can't have lunch with a friend."

"Yeah that's what I tried to tell her." Troy sighed. "Can we get off the subject of Kathleen. I'm going to have to see enough of her coming up."

"Okay, okay sorry. So How's your time off?"

"Umm…it's been okay. Except it really hasn't been time off since I've had to do all these interview and stuff. But I'm home now and I'm just going to lay cool for the next two months. What about you."

"Pretty good. Thinking about buying a house."

"Really? In these hard economic times." He said joking.

"Oh come on, you and Chad has a house and goody two shoes does too…why can't I have one?"

"Well, Taylor doesn't have her own house and Ryan still lives at home.''

"First of all Taylor lives with Chad and second of all Ryan is a baby. I don't think he'll ever leave."

Troy laughed.

"So what are you planning on doing today." Sharpay asked.

"Umm… I might go shopping."

"Your such a girl. Just watch out for the paps. You know they love them some Troy Bolton. "

Troy grinned slightly. His eyebrows shot up as he heard a loud crashing on the other end of the line with Sharpay gasping and groaning.

"Ohhh! Coco! What have I told you about running in the house." She said. Troy laughed.

"I'm guessing Coco is causing you some trouble."

"God I haven't had her for a month and she's already out of control. I've been trying to train her but…she has her own ways."

"Kinda like you."

"Yeah I know we were meant for each other…Dammit Coco!"

Troy laughed again.

"Look I gotta go. I'll call you later."

"Yeah. And tell Coco I said keep up the good work."

"Bastard."

Troy smiled as he hung up his phone. Him and Sharpay had hit it off as soon as they were introduced to each other as cast members. He was a bit surprised that someone as sweet as her could play such a bitch as a character. That was one of the things that made Sharpay. Troy had even had a little crush on her when they had first started to work together but that all changed with Kathleen had admitted to him quite boldly that she had thought that he was cute. That was of course about four years ago, when they had first started to film High School Musical. From then on it had been Troy and Kathleen and Troy had never thought of Sharpay in that way again though their friendship became stronger over time. He had a close relationship with almost all of the main cast members. Chad especially. They played best friends in the movie and it was no difference in real life. He wasn't surprised that a little after Kathleen and him started to date Chad and Taylor did. Of course the media had said that it was puppy love in both of their relationships since they were so young, but Chad and Taylor seemed to take it to a different height. They seemed to be more mature about their relationship unlike Troy and Kathleen who broke up every time something little happened.

He popped his knuckles unconsciously before walking out of his bedroom and down the stairs into to the living room. His house was a decent size house, for a twenty year old. It wasn't the biggest house ever though it wasn't a shack by any means. It came equipped with six bedrooms, why he needed six bedrooms he didn't know, a full kitchen, a dining room, a family room and living room, though he couldn't tell the difference between those two, a game room, as well as a pool that had a balcony that over looked it. It was big enough for him and he loved it. His own house. He didn't think that he would be able to afford his own house until he was at least thirty-five maybe older, but with his career taking off it helped him a lot.

It had taken Troy a couple of minutes to find his key which somehow got behind a cookie jar that he had on his kitchen counter. He grabbed a pair of sunglasses and a black beanie before making his way out the side door and into his garage. When he started up his truck he jumped slightly hearing the music that was blazing. He had forgot he had it up so loud. He cut it down, before opening the garage door and making his way off his property. Of course he had gates just as any other celebrity that tried to keep the paps out…most of the time it worked but it was other times when there was that one that got through. As he made his way down he was surprised to find not one filling up the sidewalk. He smiled. Maybe they were taking a day off of not fucking up people's lives. He turned his music up some more, singing lightly to the song Leavin' as he made his way to shopping center that he always stopped at when he was home.

As he pulled up to the shopping center he wasn't really surprised that there weren't a lot of cars sitting in the parking lot. School was still in progress and most of the people that came to the outdoor shopping mall were elderly people. Troy could handle them. They didn't know who the hell he was so usually there was nothing to be afraid about, unless there was that group of girls who decided to skip that day of school and go to the mall…well he would have to watch out for them. He parked turning off the car before reaching up to his visor getting his sunglasses. He slipped them on before getting out of his truck and activating the alarm. He took his time going from store to store, signing the receipts of the cashiers who recognized him. He looked down at his watch as he walked out of an American Eagle store, the sunlight beaming on him, his eyebrows gave a surprised looked. He had been there for nearly three hours and It felt like he had just got there. He looked around to see an old couple sitting on a bench looking as cute as always. Old people always made Troy smiled. They were like babies just older, and flipped you off if you were driving to fast around their slow ass cars.

He decided that he should get going knowing that he had to call his agent at least once before the day was over with. Just because he was on vacation didn't mean he was on vacation. He made his way down the clean sidewalk heading back to his car. He took his sunglasses off setting them on top of his head before looking around to see where he had parked his truck. He watched as a girl made her way opposite from him walking as quickly as she could. Her head was down and long brown hair was covering her face. She was a bit short with a petite body. She looked like she was in a rush or something. Troy gave her a quizzical look, then gasped lightly as she raised her face. To say that the girl was beautiful wasn't good enough. This girl was breathtaking. She was like an angel. She was…well…beautiful. Troy slowed his steps his eyes still on the girl. She walked closer and closer towards him and his heart raced just a bit. He didn't know if he should smile at her as they past or what.

He caught her eye and he saw her eyes widen for a moment before stumbling a little. Troy knew that she recognized him and soon she would run up to him asking for his autograph and a picture. It would be easier to talk to her that way. He gave her a genuine smile, as she continued walking towards him, her eyes still wide, her soft pink lips parted in wonder. The smile that was on Troy's face dropped dramatically as she suddenly walked by him with no word of acknowledgement. He stood still for a moment; now his mouth opened in wonder as she turned around and looked back at the girl. She had her head down again and she didn't look back to him. He scoffed lightly. He knew she recognized him. He saw it in her eyes. Why didn't she talk to him? Why did she just keep going?

Troy continued to look at her as she walked further and further away. Wait a minute! This was bogas. He started her way trying to catch her as fast as he could without running. Damn she had some quick little legs. Legs that looked very shapely from behind as well as that two. Troy wiped the smile off his face as he cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Hey." He said loudly but not actually screaming it. She didn't turn around. She didn't even break in her step.

"Hey." Troy tried again almost reaching her and once again she kept going.

"Hey!" he finally caught up to her and reached out to grab hold of her arm. She whipped around her eyes wide as they landed on her arm where he had his hand. He quickly removed it before taking several deep breaths. "Hi." He said simply. Troy eyes roamed her face. A beautiful face. Her eyes were had to be made out of chocolate with just a light golden tint to them. Her eye lashes were the longest and thickest he had ever seen…he knew that they were real. She didn't look like the kind of person who would put on fake eye lashes, he could tell by the way that she dressed, which was in a plain white tee-shirt and a pair of somewhat baggy gray cargo pants. She looked absolutely breathtaking.

"Umm…Hi?" she said as a question. Troy smiled at her voice. He was very feminine and not at all forced. He smiled at her.

"Hi." He wanted to roll his eyes to himself didn't he already say hi. "Uh I'm sorry I just saw you and…"

"You're Troy Bolton." She said softly. There was no screaming or hugging or taking out the cell phone to take a picture. There wasn't even a look of shock on her face anymore.

"Yeah. You noticed me when we pasted. Didn't you?"

She nodded her head slowly as if thinking about it. "Yes."

"Why didn't you stop?" He said laughing a little. "I mean. I'm not trying to be cocky or anything."

"Really?"

"Really. I was just wondering. I mean…"

She shrugged her shoulders crossing her arms underneath her breast. Troy eyes glanced down towards them for a moment before looking back up at her. "Well, I'm guessing you were shopping?"

"Yeah." He asked somewhat confused.

"I don't know I guess I just figured that you probably had people on you all day you don't need another one."

Troy frowned at her not because he was upset with her but because he was actually surprised at what she just said. He knew fans…he was one himself of much larger A list celebrities, and there was almost once in a lifetime to meet a celebrity and she was going to past it up because he probably had people following him all day. Hell even he wouldn't do that. He would have walked right up to Haley Berry asking for her autograph. He sighed a little trying to take what she had said in.

"Well…see ya…" she said turning around again to go. Troy hand caught her again as his eyes widen with shock. Did she not want to be anywhere near him?

"Wait! I uh…"

"You what?" she asked with a questionable look on her face.

Troy didn't really know what to say. "You don't want an autograph?"

She laughed and Troy thought that he just peed on himself he got so excited from that one laugh. What a fucking laugh. "And you're not trying to be cocky?"

He smiled and shrugged. "Look. You caught my eye, okay. I'll come right out and say it."

Now this was the reaction that he wanted. She looked completely shocked and kinda looked at him like she was crazy. "What?"

"You caught my eye. I mean…wow." He said smiling and she blushed. She looked around before looking back at him.

"I'm not being punked am I?" she asked seriously.

Troy shook his head. "No. I promise. "He groaned as his cell phone went off in his pocket. She was still looking at him as though he had lost his marbles, and her arms were still crossed. Troy ignored the phone. "Look I know this is probably weird and strange but, I mean…" he sighed, why was this so difficult. Probably because it wasn't every day that you asked a complete stranger their phone number. "Do you mind if I get your number." He rushed out.

Her eyes widen for a moment. She didn't answer him right away and once again he was shocked she didn't jump with joy. Instead she looked at him puzzled, before sighing. "How about..I have yours."

Troy frowned slightly. He usually didn't give people his number first. Especially his personal number. He was afraid that it might somehow get leaked and then he would have crazy people calling him. "If I do…you can't give it to anyone."

She nodded her head her mouth dropping open just a bit shocked that he was complying. "I promise." She said.

He watched as she reached in her pocket and pulled out a small phone. It wasn't the best looking phone but he didn't notice that right now all he wanted was to have this girl get his number so that she could call him. Maybe she really didn't like him and was playing that give me your number and I'll call you game but never call. He softly gave her his number as he watched he in put in her phone. She quickly closed it before putting it in her pocket. She suddenly turned around and started to walk away.

"Whoa! Hey are you going to call me!" he yelled after her.

"Maybe!'' she yelled back not turning around.

Troy rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe her. He gasped as he realized that he had no idea who he was talking to. "What's your name?!" yelled out again.

She finally stopped, before turning around. There wasn't a smile on her face just contentment. "Gabrielle!" she yelled back before turning the corner and walking out of his view.

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**A/N:It would help me out a lot if you could review because...well...just because...**


	3. Her First Job

**A/N: Hey guys I just wanna say thanks for the reviews…I really appreciated them. I even got a few favs and I was surprised by that because I only posted like 2 chapter but that ya soo much…hugs all around. So this chapter is mainly Gabriella. It's a little intense maybe even a little dark and I'm sorry if it does offend anyone but it is fiction story and this is where my creative side is going. So enjoy the chapter.**

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Chapter 3

As soon as Gabriella turned the corner she slammed herself against the side of the building. She was breathing fast and hard as though she had just ran a mile. She pushed her hair out of her face before leaning around the building to see if what just happened really happened. Yes it did. She watched as Troy Bolton walked across the parking lot towards a black truck, swinging shopping bags in his hands. She turned back around and sighed heavily. Did that really happen? Did she just meat Troy Bolton and he asked for her number? What was this world coming to? Why was he even here? Though the town she lived in was small…it wasn't that far away from the big city, maybe he lived there. She pushed herself away from the building and continued to walk towards the bus stop, her heart still pumping fast in her chest.

She was completely shocked. Stuff like this didn't happen to her. Just a few days ago she was day dreaming about Troy Bolton, like many other girls in the world, and then a few days later he was talking to her like a normal person, hell he was just talking to her. Okay so yeah he was a normal person…he was just more famous, sexier, and richer than normal people. She sat on the bench and looked at the ground, still trying to figure out why God choose this day to bless her. What she had said to him was true. The reason that she didn't jump and scream his name was because she thought that maybe he had been accosted enough. She had watched videos on YouTube, and saw the paparazzi and how they treated celebrities. They were ruthless. She just thought if she didn't act overly dramatic, he would have been appreciative. When he had stopped her she had to control her emotion…she had to act calm…cool…and collected. And she guessed that she got rewarded for that. By him giving her his number.

She took her raggedy phone out of her pocket and looked at the only number that she had stored in there. Troy Bolton. She wondered if it was the real number. She wondered if it really was a joke. Troy Bolton did not just walk up to her and give her his number. There was no way. No fucking way.

She stood up as she saw the bus approaching. She got on sitting towards the front this time. The only reason why she wasn't in school at the moment was because it was Friday and usually on Fridays…the whole school was in such an uproar about the basketball game that night that they hardly did anything besides run around the school acting like idiots, watching movies, or girls having good luck sex with one of the players. So what was the point of going? So she had decided to come to the mall, and window shop. It was better than going home and it wasted a lot of time. Little did she know that at the end of her little shopping spree she would run into every girl's fantasy. Troy Bolton. She couldn't get him out of her head. She couldn't believe that it even happened. Who would blame her…if she couldn't help but to think of him…especially now.

She rode the bus for about thirty minutes looking down at her phone every once in a while. God! She couldn't believe this was happening. Troy fucking Bolton. She finally smiled to herself. She really had felt good, shocked but good. Troy Bolton must have thought she was at least pretty enough to at least talk to her. She giggled to herself and looked over to the old women who looked at her as though she was crazy for laughing. She looked down at her phone again and sighed. Should she call…would he pick up or once again would it be a joke…a prank. She decided that right now she wouldn't worry about…not now…not so soon. She didn't want to seem desperate. Though she really really wanted to call.

She hopped off the bus and made her way slowly down the sidewalk towards her house. She walked slowly there wanting to take her time. She watched her step knowing that if she didn't she would trip on uprooted cement or something, the city workers really needed to get that fixed. She took deep breathes trying to take in air to clean her lungs. She tried to get the name and the face and the conversation with Troy Bolton out of her mind. She needed to, for right now. She had to. She had other important things to think about.

She stood in front of her house and looked towards it. Good thing he wasn't home. He must be out. She made her way slowly towards the door opening it slowly. If he wasn't here he was an idiot for leaving the door open. She rolled her eyes as she stepped in. She placed her hand on her nose trying to block out the smell of marijuana that filled the house. Every time she smelled that stuff it made her stomach heave. She walked though the hallway making her way towards a room. His room. She didn't bother on knocking but instead opened the door slowly and as quietly as possible. She stuck her head in. No one. He must have just left because it smelled even worse in that room, though she knew that wasn't the only thing she smelled, stuff like sex and alcohol. Her eyes fell on an end table that was by the bed and she shook her head softly as she looked two needles that were sitting side by side. She groaned and rolled her eyes as she made her way to her room, closing her door slightly. She laid on her bed throwing a hand over her eyes. She prayed to whoever would listen that tonight he would just stay where he was. She was tired. Tired of it all. Tired of him. Tired of his presence. She just didn't want to be in it anymore. She noticed that her breaths were getting more even and that her eyes were getting even heavier, she knew that she shouldn't fall asleep. He hated when she slept during the day. The day was not the time to sleep. Well she couldn't help it…she fell asleep.

The image of his electric blue eyes and his soft lips being planted on hers was suddenly wiped away as she felt a sharp tug on her on her head. Her eyes shot open as she looked up into a pair of bloodshot eyes. She said nothing but her breath began to hitch as the large hand tightened its grip on her hair pulling tightly. Tears came to her eyes and her body stiffened. She had become a bit confused at first before she realized that she had fallen asleep and had not listened to him come home. A huge mistake on her part. She bit her bottom lip as he literally lifted her up by her hair before pushing her against the wall. She immediately fell to the floor, not being able to hold her balance, crying out just a little.

"Oh come on you little bitch that did hurt." A strong voice stated above her. She kept her eyes open, glancing out her window. It was dark. She must have been sleeping for some time.

"Sorry." She mumbled slightly bringing a hand to her head. She pressed her lips together.

"Where the hell were you today?" the voice sneered at her.

"Huh?" Gabriella frowned slightly. Why would he care where she was? She would have thought that maybe he would think that she was at school. She didn't mean to act so stupidly when he asked that question, it had just surprised her. And for that stupid question she was slapped hard against her face.

"Don't act fucking stupid. I asked you a fucking question. Where the fuck were you at? I came to pick you up from school and imagine my surprise when my fucking daughter didn't come out of the building. I had to fucking wait for twenty minutes before I left. Now where the fuck were you?"

Gabriella took a deep breath trying to keep the tears from sliding down her face. "Umm…" if he ever found out that she was anywhere but school…well she didn't even want to think about what he would do. She bit her lip, shaking slightly. "I umm…I was in the school's library." She said strongly to cover up the lie. "I had to finish a paper. I'm sorry." She watched him as he watched her. She kept her eyes on him telling him that she wasn't lying. Why in the world would he want to come pick her up from school? He had never, never in his life picked her up from school. She wondered what he was up to.

She tried not to flinch as he reached down to her again but this time he stoked her face softly. Gabriella frowned at him completely confused. What in the world was happening? Her heart was beating hurtfully beneath her breast as she tried to figure out what he was up to. He had never acted this…loving towards her, well if you wanted to call it loving.

"Oh baby. It's okay. I was just worried about you." He said pushing her hair out of her face. Gabriella nodded her head slightly. "Stand up." He said softly. She stood up slowly her eyes still locked on him. He turned around and picked up something on the floor. It was a bag. A light pink bag. She didn't even notice that he had a bag. He thrust it in his hands but Gabriella didn't dare look in it. She was still looking at him as he continued to stoke her hair.

"Don't you want to see what's in the bag." He asked.

She knew better than to say no so she nodded her head and looked into the bag. She pulled out what looked like a light pink shear babydoll lingerie, as well as a pair of shear panties. She blushed and gasped lightly as she looked up at him tears coming in her eyes. No he wouldn't do this to her. He…he was her father. It was disgusting. She wouldn't do it…she couldn't do it. Where would he even get an idea like that from.

"I've decided to let you get a job." He said.

Gabriella gave him a questioning look. "Really?" she asked slowly.

"Hmm. And that is your uniform." He said smiling. She frowned and looked down at the piece of cloth that was in her hand. Uniform? She looked up at him wanting to ask questions? Wanting to know what was going through his sick head.

"I'm sorry I don't understand."

"That was the reason I came to get you from school. One of daddy's friends seems to have an interest in you. And he paid a hefty amount to explore that interest. He's in the living room waiting."

Gabriella gasped loudly shaking her head. Tears were now visible as they ran down her face and she tried to shrink away from him against the wall. "You want me to prostitute myself. No. No. I can't. Please. Please anything, I'll do anything else, please dad, don't make me." She said crying…not even thinking about the consequences of what she was doing. "I won't do it. Please." She begged.

She was suddenly grabbed by her upper arms and slammed against the wall, she didn't care if tears were still falling…she couldn't stop them. "You will do it. "He seethed at her. "He is paying three hundred dollars for your pussy and you're going to give it to him and you're going to be good. If I hear one more fucking complaint from you fucking mouth, you won't even be able to eat for a month." He slammed her against the wall again making her groan out loud. "I mean it Gabriella. You fuck this up and I'll fuck you up." He pushed her against the wall once more before letting her go and walking towards he door. He paused for a moment looking back at her. "Ten minutes and you better be ready."

Gabriella inhaled loudly as her grip tightened on the pieces of flimsy cloth that were in between her fingers. He had never put her in this predicament before. Never. He didn't need money. He didn't need it at all. Why was he doing this? She groaned wanting to yell and scream but she held it in. She couldn't do this. She couldn't lose her virginity to some druggie because he thought that she was cute. But she didn't have to think twice on if her father's threat was real or not, she knew it was. She considered going to the police. This time she could be brave. This time…she wouldn't be afraid. Right? Fresh tears formed in her eyes as she held up the material. Yeah right? Her brave enough. It would be embarrassing, she would be ashamed. There was no way in hell someone was going to find out about this. She would be strong. She didn't need anyone to help her. She could do this. She would be leaving here as soon as possible anyway. She could do this.

She quickly shed her clothes, knowing that if she took it slow her bravery would fall. She shook lightly as she slid the flimsy material over her head and the small panties up her legs. She ran her hands through her hair holding them in place for a while, taking calm deep breaths. She had to prepare herself for what was about to happen. She was about to lose the one thing that she had control over. Well not anymore. She told herself that it wasn't a big deal. Plenty of girls weren't virgins and they seemed to do well in life. Well everyone was doing better than her. Her hands fell to her side as the door suddenly open and though she wanted to cringe under her father eyes she tried to stand tall, and strong.

"Good. You look beautiful honey." He said. She didn't move. Instead she watched him as he moved to the side to revel a man. The man. The one that was going to take what she was suppose to give. She did cringe when the man stepped forward. He was a young looking man…maybe around twenty five or twenty six, but he smelled, like he was burning rubber that was mixed with body order, He looked oily and dirty, and…mean. She knew this was not going to be any gentle activity. At all. She jumped slightly as he made himself into her bedroom.

"Be Good Gabriella. I don't want no shit."

She wanted to sneer up at the demon. The devil himself. She watched as the guy reached in his back pocket pulling out a bundle of money slapping it in her father's hand. She closed her eye taking deep breaths. Her father took the money giving her a smile before he walked out of her room slamming the door, leaving her and the oily guy alone. He smiled at her revealing disgusting ugly teeth. She groaned and pushed herself against the wall as he walked near her.

"Hey sexy." He said in a deep…almost growling voice. She bit her lip trying to think of any way to keep him away from her. She gasped lightly as his arms shot out and grabbed her around her waist pulling her closer to him. "Hmm..You sure do smell good."

"Uhhh…Listen." She said trying to steady her voice. "You don't have to do this. I mean…You don't want this."

"Yes I do. Why wouldn't I? I mean look at you."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Look I can do anything. Anything else except…" she was telling the truth. She would do anything else. She'd do oral on him if that was what it took for him to not penetrate her. She sighed as he shook his head.

"Yeah right, and miss my chance to fuck a fine female. I don't think so."

Gabriella was dragged to the bed, her back hitting it and not a second later he was on top of her, touching her roughly. She winched as he pinched her nipples, twisted them in agony. She cried out, tears forming in her eyes again. He leaned down and placed his mouth on top of hers. She felt as though she was going to vomit. God he tasted horrid. She couldn't stand it anymore and bit his tongue hard. He reclined looking down at her growling. He then smiled down at her. "Hmm…you wanna play rough. Damn I like that." He said attacking her neck. Gabriella couldn't believe this was happening as she felt his hands suddenly pull her panties down.

Her eyes widen and she couldn't take it anymore. She rather take a beating over rape any day. She pushed against the guy roughly pushing him away. He looked down at her with familiar hateful eyes before he grabbing both of her arms and holding them tightly above her head. She tried to throw him off his with body but he wasn't moving. She told herself that she was not going to let this happen. There was no way in hell. She wondered if she just stayed still maybe he would just leave her alone. He did say that he liked it 'rough'. She mentally shook her head she knew that wasn't going to happen the only way to get him to stop would be physical pain. While she was thinking about the ways to get him to leave her alone she couldn't feel his hands on her body until she felt his fingers slam into her. She screamed out, trying to push him away though he didn't budge. Instead he placed his lips on the inside of her thighs getting closer and closer to the place where she wanted to keep protected. Adrenaline rushed though her body, telling herself that she better do something now or never. She breathed deeply before she raised her knee up quickly hitting him in the chin.

"You bitch!"

She watched as he recoiled holding his hand over his mouth. She could see blood seeping through his fingers. She must have hit him harder than she thought. She rolled off the bed falling to the floor before he had a chance to grab her. She crawled quickly to the door before standing up and running out of her room, down the hallway and towards the kitchen. She leaned against the refrigerator before falling to the floor her back still against the refrigerator door, She rubbed her arms as she listened to the guy rant and rave. She knew she was going to have hell to pay. She did hear that there were different levels of hell right….she was just picking the one that was less…hell? Right?

She looked up at the door way as she saw her father and 'the guy' standing there looking down at her. 'The guys' shook his head in a disgusting way. She smiled as she saw his blood stained teeth. That visual aid gave her some relief. She was able to save herself from one man.

"Get up." Her father said quietly. Gabriella stood up slowly her back still against the refrigerator. She eyed them both as they stared at her. Her father took one step towards her crossing his arms. "Apologize." He said. "And get back in there."

Gabriella shook her head. "No." she whispered.

"I swear to God Gabriella if you don't—"

"I don't care! I won't have him touch me!" she yelled at him she tore her eyes away from his and looked down at the floor.

"Here" She heard him say. She glanced up and saw him push the money into 'the guys' chest. "Get the hell out."

"Aw man come on. I—"

"Get out!" he growled. 'The guy' sneered at her before he turned around and made his way out of the house. Her father looked towards her with a fire in his eyes that she had never seen before. She exhaled hard and she prepared herself for what was going to come because even though she knew that it was going to the lesser hell of the two… it was still hell either way.

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"So you gave some…fan your number?"

Troy sat across from Chad his eyes on his television as he tried to listen to both the game and Chad at the same time. He nodded his head taking a sip of his beer. He had tried getting his mind off of Gabriella. She hadn't called him, at all, not once, all day. He had thought as soon as she had turned that corner, his phone would ring with her on the other end. But he hadn't heard from her. He looked at the clock that was above the television and sighed. It was about eleven, it had been hours since they had met and she still hadn't called. He smiled softly as he thought about how she reacted towards him. She was very aloof when she spoke to him and that was a major turn on. He had never had someone to ignore him and even though she had a good reason to do so it totally turned him on. The game faded away and was replaced with her laughing, and not just laughing but laughing at him. The soft smile that he had on his face became full blown before Chad called out to him.

"Dude? What the hell are you looking at?" he asked looking at the game as though there was something there that he hadn't seen.

"Nothing." Troy took another drink before sighing and looking at his phone that was on the coffee table.

"Dude why don't you just call her?"

Troy rolled his eyes as he looked at his best friend. "Dude, because I don't have her number and if you say dude again…"

Chad shrugged his shoulders. "Already getting back on the horse…good man."

"She's not a fucking horse." Troy blurted out, "She's…an angel."

There was a quiet moment before Chad burst out laughing. Troy blushed a little as he frowned towards his best friend. Of course he knew what was so funny. He was acting weird…crazy.

"An angel? Did she have wings." He said still laughing.

Troy pressed his lips together and threw a pillow over at him hitting him in his face. "You know what I mean."

"You know Kathleen is going to be pissed—"

"This has nothing to do with Kathleen. She and I are over. I want absolutely nothing to do with her."

"Well that's going to be a little hard seeing how you two are practically fucking each other on film, and dancing and singing…" Chad said taking a swig from his bottle

Troy sighed as he looked at the game trying to get into it but Chad and his big mouth kept talking.

"You know it's not going to work right?"

His eyes snapped towards his and they silted just a bit. "What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

"Well I just mean…she's going to be around here and you're going to be…away…filming…remember you're an actor."

Troy stared at Chad and shook his head. Maybe he hadn't really thought about it but it wasn't like he planned to have an actually relationship with her. He just met her…hell he hadn't even spoken with her yet. He really didn't really want to think about real relationships right now…it was just too early in the…relationship…if there was a relationship.

"Look…I just want her to call. That's all I want right now. Or at least a sign that…she might call."

Troy rolled his neck looking up at the ceiling. All he could do now was wait.

"Maybe she'll send a halo as a sign." Chad said laughing. Troy sneered at him shaking his head before turning back to the television.

"You get on my nerves."

They spent a few minutes watching the game, and when Troy's cell phone went off he jumped reaching out and grabbed it off of the coffee table. His heart was beating so fast and probably loud that Chad had to have heard it. The smile that was plastered on his face fell as he looked at the name. His agent. Great. So he had been had. He had been played. He pushed answer with a hard finger as he started to the person who wasn't on his wish list to speak to.

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**A/N: I would love it if you guys could review…it's whats make me want to continue the story if I don't get review I'm like okay so the story is good enough so why finish it …unless I get reviews. It doesn't take long and I'd luv ya for it if ya did…Thankz!**


	4. Football Head Injuries

**A/N: Hey guys. Thankz for the awesome reviews. I want to say that I'm truly thankful for everyone of them. They all made me smile. Okay so I was trying to get two chapters up today but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it...my birthday is today..the big 21 and everyone wants to do everything...so I'll probably have it up next week. I hope you like this one and for those who do read the author's note i just wanted to know if the story is movie too fast or too slow. I would appreciate it soo much. Okay onto the story....**

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Chapter 4

Usually when Troy was told that he could have vacation time he was ecstatic. That was his relaxation time. That was the time when he could sleep in, have fun, go to parties, and lounge around. He could re-energize himself before he had months and months of working. That was what vacation time was usually about. But not this time. This time it was filled with stress and wishful thinking that caused the stressed. He didn't know what was happening to him. He had girls throwing himself every day, and for some reason he didn't find interest in any of them. He didn't know why this girl, Gabriella, had such a fix on him. He couldn't get her out of his head. He felt like he was going crazy. He saw her once and every since that day he had been day dreaming, thinking, and talking to anyone who would listen about her. He had thought about looking her up but then realized that he didn't know her last name. He had even went back to the shopping center and walked around to see if he would run into her again, but that didn't happen. A whole week. He hadn't set eyes on her for a whole week.

He looked down at his food, picking up a French fry before dipping it into some ranch sauce and popping it into his mouth. He looked up as he heard a loud laugh. He watched as Sharpay was doubled over in laughter her eyes looking towards Chad. Troy then looked over at Chad he had a sneer on his face as she looked at Sharpay. A smile cracked on his face as he looked down at Chad's food to find a whole pile of salt on his French fries. He shook his head at their silliness'.

"That was fucked up Sharpay." Chad said looking down at his fries sadly. "You're going pay to get me some more."

Troy watched as Sharpay rolled her eyes a smile still playing her lips. She tossed her hair behind her should very dramatic like, and she licked her glossy lips. "Oh come on, it was funny."

"No it wasn't. Damn it Sharpay. Order me some more." He said pushing his food from him.

"Yeah right. I'm not your maid Chad." She said.

Troy sighed not really wanting to hear them arguing. Yeah they were all close friends…as close as they come but Sharpay and Chad had this little thing going on where they loved to argue with each other. It wasn't a flirting kinda of arguing like Chad and Taylor did. It was more like an annoying arguing thing. They would argue about anything stupid stuff like, color, and how rainbows were formed and how the make the paper that goes around soda bottle come from. Yeah it was some pretty stupid shit but they didn't mind arguing about it though most of the time it gave Troy a headache like it did now. They had decided that they would all go out and have lunch at a local…kinda non-existent diner. They didn't really feel like being accosted by the paparazzi that day and they had hoped that with all the old people in here they wouldn't be noticed.

"You such a bitch." Chad said glaring at her.

"Yeah well you are too." Sharpay said laughing. She looked over at Troy and gave him a questioning look. He seemed to be a little out there, and she knew exactly what he was thinking about. When Chad had called her telling her about the whole fan phone number thing she hadn't been shocked at all. She knew that sooner or later Troy was going to find another girl sooner or later. The only probably that she had was that he seemed to be too interested in this girl when he knew nothing about her. He hadn't even talked to her yet. She didn't know if all he wanted was sex or if he wanted something more and the something more made her question his thinking. She had even questioned this "fan." Who in the hell was she? Was she just playing hard to get in order to get to Mr. Troy Bolton himself? She sighed.

"Troy" she said getting his attention since he was looking out the window with a faraway look. "What are you thinking about?"

Troy sighed and opened his mouth only to have Chad answer for him.

"What do you think he's thinking about. Gabriella. The famous fan." He said laughing. "You know what Troy I'm starting to think that she isn't real."

Troy narrowed his eyes towards Chad. "She's real Chad. Believe me."

"If she's so real why hasn't she called you? I mean you said she noticed who you were. Who wouldn't want to call the famous Troy Bolton?"

Troy shrugged his shoulders. He had been thinking the same thing. "Maybe…maybe she's busy."

They were all quiet for a while Sharpay and Chad looking at Troy with disbelieving looks while he tried to justify the whole situation.

"Or…" Sharpay said slowly.. "Maybe she just doesn't like you."

Troy scoffed and shook his head at both of them. "What good friends you too are. You've been picking on me this whole week about her. You guys are suppose to be encouraging."

"Yeah well…it's kinda hard not to pick on you when you've been talking about her twenty four seven. I mean come on Troy…just forget her. She's not going to call, you're not going to see her again, plus you're leaving soon." Sharpay said in a commanding voice. Troy ignored it.

"Yeah in about 2 months. I still have time to find her."

"How?" Chad snapped. "How are you going to find her Troy? All you know is that her name is Gabriella. That's going to do you a lot of fucking good."

Troy scratched the back of his head as he took his eyes off of his two best friends. "I know she lives around this area. Well maybe the suburb part because the shopping center where I met her was kinda in the suburbs not really in the city part. She could live there."

Sharpay nodded her head slowly. "Okay so you know she lives in a small town but hello Troy I'm betting on there still people in that town. There is no what you're going to find her."

Troy couldn't believe his friends were being like this. Maybe it was just so out of character for him or maybe he was getting on their nerves. Were they right? Should he just give up trying to find Gabriella? Should he just let her go? Okay well maybe he was getting a little obsessed. It wasn't like they were in a relationship and had suddenly broken up and he still wanted her back…unlike Kathleen but still when he had set eyes on her that day…he felt…as though…damn he couldn't even describe the word. His brain snapped him back in reality as he smiled up at Chad who was singing and humming a little.

"Bet on it, bet on it, bet on it, bet on me." He said picking up one of his fries and shoving it in his mouth, before spitting it back out again. Sharpay jumped away from him looking as though he was the most disgusting thing on the planet. She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him before taking out her pocket size mirror and looking at herself in it. God he had the weirdest friends.

"Hey bitch you still owe me some fries." Chad said pointing at Sharpay. Yeah he had weird friends.

"You know." Sharpay said as she dug around her purse for a moment. "I don't think Taylor would like it if her boyfriend was disrespecting the female race. Maybe I should give her a call." She said smiling at Chad as she took out her phone.

Chad sneered at her knowing that she would do it and that Taylor would probably believe Sharpay over him any day. "You stupid—"

"Hey guys!" Troy called out bringing both of their eyes to him. He smiled at them and clasped his hands together taking a deep breath. While they had been arguing again he had sat and thought about it. He would try one more time. Once more and if he couldn't find her…then he would give up. "I want to go to that shopping center."

"Ohh! Shopping. That's a very good idea, I need some new shoes for—"Sharpay started completely missing the whole idea, but Chad cut her off.

"What shopping center?" he asked as he looked at Troy. Troy smiled shyly and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh come on man. She's not going to be there. You know it, I know it, the whole fucking world knows it."

"Just one more time" Troy said signaling the waitress for his check. "And if she's not there I promise I will never bring up the topic Gabriella again. " He looked up at Chad and Sharpay who both had gave him the "yeah right" look. He scoffed. "I promise." After paying his portion of the meal he threw a tip on the table before quickly standing up and going out to Chad's car. He knew he should have brought his but since they were altogether they decided to save money on gas and save the environment by carpooling. "Come on."

"Wait…what about my fries!" Chad called out as Sharpay laughed as she started to walk out the door. She looked back and rolled her eyes.

"Come on let's go find mystery girl."

Chad stayed at the table for a while looking down at his fries before his eyes wondered over towards Sharpay's bill. She had left it for him to pay! He threw some money down on the table hoping that the waitress would take what was needed for his bill and the rest for her tip. He scoffed. "Stupid bitch." He mumbled before walking out of the café.

* * *

"I'm sorry Troy."

Sharpay could tell how depressed Troy was. He hadn't said one word since they put on their disguises, of hats and sunglasses, and pulled up to the outdoor shopping mall. They had been every single store; Sharpay of course took that opportunity to do some fast shopping. They were now walking out of a pet store out into the sunny world. He had his hands deep into his pocket looking up and down the sidewalk. She sighed and looked over at Chad who was tossing his newly bought football. They started walking down the sidewalk each in their own thoughts.

Troy was pretty disappointed in himself. He couldn't believe that he actually let some stupid girl control his mind. Stupid, stupid girl. He didn't even know anything about her, his friends were right. He didn't even know why he was so obsessed with finding her. She was just another girl. Troy took several deep breathing trying to clear his head. He had promised that if he wasn't able to find her here that he wouldn't talk about her anymore, and he was going to keep his promise, but he didn't need to do it just for them…he needed to do it for himself also.

"Come on dude, cheer up. It's not the end of the world." Chad said glancing over at him.

"Yeah I know." Troy said smiling. He put Gabriella behind him as he looked towards Chad. "Why did you buy a football? I thought you were a basketball dude."

Chad shrugged. "It's a pretty cool football." He said looking down at it tossing it up again and catching it.

"It's just a disgusting ball Chad…nothing special about it." Sharpay said her eyes on her phone while she was texting someone.

Troy laughed and held his hands up towards Chad. "Here give it to me…go long."

Troy and Sharpay paused, Sharpay leaning against a pole her eyes still on her phone. Troy watched as Chad ran down the sidewalk looking back every now and again. Of course they were acting like little boys. They shouldn't have been throwing football when there was display windows were about. What if they broke something? Or hit someone? No they didn't think about any of that. Instead they just thought about having a little fun, without any of the consequences.

"Be sure to catch it dude!" Troy yelled out smiling.

"I got it come on!"

Troy released the ball making it fly through the air. It went straight for Chad's hands. It was a perfect throw. Chad should have had it and Troy could not figure out why the stupid idiot completely failed to catch the perfectly thrown football. As soon the Chad missed the ball, he heard a loud groan. Chad looked behind him and gasped as he saw a girl sitting on a bench clutching g the side of her head. Chad rushed the short distance towards her trying to make sure she was alright.

"Shit. I'm sorry—"he started.

"What the hell!" she said looking up at him, her eyes narrowing a little. Chad chuckled uncomfortably as he looked down at her. He couldn't tell if she noticed him or not. He rolled his eyes…right now he needed to make sure she was alright and didn't file a lawsuit against him. Chad frowned lightly. Wait a minute this wasn't his fault. This was Troy's fault. He was the one who threw the football. He should be the one she filed charges against.

"Are you okay?" Chad asked as he bent down and picked up the football.

"Do you think I'm alright? You just hit me in the head with a fucking football."

"I didn't hit you my friend Tr--, my friend did." If she didn't notice him he didn't want to be the one that told her right out.

Troy had walked quickly over to where Chad was, pulling Sharpay along. Stupid Chad. How do you miss catching a football? How stupid could one get? Of course he hadn't counted on who he was talking to. Especially when he was trying to get that exact person out of his head. When he reached Chad and looked around him his hand dropped from Sharpay's and his mouth was wide open in shocked.

"Gabriella?" he asked in a stunned voice.

Gabriella's sneer fell off of her face as her eyes landed on a particular blue eyed boy wonder. She gasped softly. What the hell was he doing here? She guessed that whoever was looking over her life had decided that today would be a pretty good day to live. She had once again gone to the mall, to go window shopping. This time she told herself that the only reason she was going was that she wouldn't be bored and have nothing to do at school but she knew that she was hoping to run into him again. She had spent about two hours at the shopping center trying to see if he was there. She didn't think that she would actually see him there. Maybe it was God that was looking down on her. She stayed on the bench the pain in her head completely gone. Her mouth dropped open just a bit. Her eyes went back and forth from him to the guy that was right in front of her. Her mouth dropped even further as she realized who was standing right in front of her. What was this meet the High School Musical cast day?

"Gabriella?"

She looked behind Troy and spotted another cast member. Of course she instantly noticed her because what other blonde bombshell would be hanging out with both Troy Bolton and Chad Danforth. It was none other than Sharpay Evans. Her heart was beating quickly. She looked back and forth between all three celebrities as they looked down at her in wonder. She wanted to recoil just a bit wondering why they were staring at her in wonder.

"She's real." Chad said stupidly.

Troy rolled his eyes at Chad then pushed him aside to get closer to Gabriella. She looked just as beautiful as ever. He smiled down at her, thanking God that he had finally found her. Not that he had been looking for her…okay he had been looking for her but still. This was a dream come true. His first instinct was to grab her and hug her but he had to remind himself that she would probably think he was crazy if he did it.

"How are you doing?" he asked simply.

She nodded her head before turning her back and looking down the street wondering if the bus was going to come soon. It wasn't that she didn't want to be surrounded by the cast of her favorite movie, but they were making her nervous, plus Troy Bolton was talking to her…talking to her? Again.

"You...you never called me?" he blurted out.

Gabriella turned back at around with a look of shock on her face. He actually looked put out because she didn't call him. In reality she wanted to call the number that he gave her. A lot. Though during that week she was physically incapable to talk or do anything basically with her mouth. Her father had kept his promise and had bruised her face pretty bad. Bad enough that it hurt to open her mouth in anyway. She had skipped school that whole week, giving her bruises some time to heal enough that when she put make-up on it would be able to cover them. She bit her lip as he bent down balancing himself on his toes his eyes right across from hers.

"Umm…I was busy." She said coolly.

Troy nodded his head. "I figured as much."

"Yeah right. You've been talking about her ever since—" Chad started

"Chad!" Troy snapped.

Gabriella smiled softly at the two.

"Well you have." Chad said smiling tossing the football and catching again. Chad had looked down at her and the smile fell off of his face and he held the ball still. "Damn Troy. You hit the fuck out of her. There is already a bruise forming."

Gabriella watched as Chad pointed to her forehead. Her eyes widen. She knew that that football didn't make a bruise that fast. It was probably because of what her father did. Well she wasn't going to let them know the latter. Troy had reached up and touched her forehead softly, and their eyes connected instantly. His hand stayed in its play softly running his fingers over the bruise. They both could feel their hearts stop at the eye connection. They could both feel that small surge of electricity that past from his fingertips to her head. She exhaled softly. As much as she wanted to feel as though this wasn't happening, that Troy Bolton star of High School Musical wasn't touching her…that just wasn't going through her head. She had never felt what she was feeling. The weird feeling that she got in her stomach that kind of felt like she wanted to throw up. She could feel her pulse racing under her skin. Her eyes became heavy just from being so close to him. She had the urge to pull him closer and hold on to him…maybe even pressing her lips to his.

Troy smirked at her and he could read almost every emotion in her eyes. They were filled with wonder and passion and a little bit of confusion. He wouldn't blame her. He was feeling a bit confused also. He didn't think someone who had just met another could feel like this. Wasn't there the whole getting to know someone, and taking them out on dates before these feelings took over one's body. Things like this only happened in those romance books that girls read. It didn't happen to real people. It didn't happen to him.

He frowned slightly as she pulled away from him. Gabriella took a deep breath, she didn't know what had just happened but the feeling that she felt had scared her. Who wouldn't be scared about those feelings…especially since they just slammed into her?

"So you're Gabriella." Sharpay said walking up to the three of them. She had her arms crossed and she looked down at Gabriella with raised eye brows. "Hmm. I guess she's…alright."

Troy looked at Sharpay narrowing his eyes towards her before looking back at Gabriella. "So listen I was wondering if you want to go out sometime. You know for dinner or lunch." He chuckled softly.

Gabriella shook her head quickly. He couldn't be serious. "Are you for real?"

"Of course he's for real." Chad said. "He's been talking about you non-stop. It was Gabriella this and—"

"Chad!" Troy snapped at him again. "Look Gabriella, I am serious. I wanna take you out."

"But…I'm…"

"Normal?" Sharpay said smirking at her.

Gabriella frowned at her for a moment before looking at Troy. "Look Your Troy Bolton and I'm just…" she laughed. "…like she said. Normal."

Troy shook his head cursing Sharpay. What the hell was her problem? "Your anything but normal Gabriella." He sighed deeply trying to figure out a way to at least talk to her privately without.

Gabriella couldn't believe this was happening to her. She wouldn't believe this. She was the most invisible person on the planet and Troy Bolton wanted to take her out to lunch. Yeah right. "I don't know. I don't think—"

"Why don't you come hang out with us tomorrow?" Chad said suddenly, "My girlfriend is having a party sort of. Well not really a party just a few close friends. You could hang out with us there. You know as friends?"Chad looked stressfully at Troy trying to get him to catch on. And Troy did catch on. Maybe if he could convince her to just be friends at first, he could get to know her and hopefully convince her to go out on at least one date with him.

"Yeah as friends." He said smiling at her. "Please."

Gabriella sighed as she bit her lip, and Troy couldn't help but to be turned on by that unconscious move. Of course she was hesitating on actually going or not. Everything was happening so fast and not only that, she had to deal with her father. And that meant sneaking around and lying. She was pretty good at that when she put her mind to it. She was caught in the middle. She really wanted to go to this party, wanted to hang out with Troy Bolton, how many people could say they did that. Then she was afraid that if she was actually caught that she might not be alive anymore. She took a deep breath holding it in for a moment before letting it out just a bit. "As friends right?" she asked him. She had it in her mind that Troy Bolton would want nothing else. She didn't even know what that something else might be, that how confused she was.

"Yep." Troy said.

"Okay I'll be there."

"Hella yeah!" Troy said standing up. He had a huge smile on his face. This was great. Now he could actually speak with her. He could finally get caught up with everything that should have happened this past week. He rolled his neck as he looked down at her. She was back at him with a soft smile on her face. Troy had to admit that she had the most beautiful eyes. Those chocolate eyes just called out to him. It was as though he wanted to drown in them.

"Are you catching the bus?" Chad asked laughing.

Troy eyes snapped towards his, widening slightly communicating to him with his eyes. What the hell Chad. Why would he ask a question like that? Troy hadn't even noticed her sitting at the bus stop. He didn't see it as a big concern. There were plenty of people who rode the bus or maybe the subway in bigger cities. Then a thought crossed his mind. What if she wasn't even old enough to drive? What if she was like thirteen? Though she surly didn't look thirteen. He hadn't even asked her how old she was. He prayed to god that she wasn't a ten year old but Troy knew that that was a little farfetched. He looked down at her with a slight smile on his face trying to judge her age, but it was impossible. She looked to be fifteen to in her early twenties. He himself was nineteen and he didn't want to go to jail for trying to hit on a minor…well a young minor.

"Umm…this might sound a little weird but, how old are you?" he said still looking down at her but now with a thoughtful look.

There was silence for a minute while all three people there looked at him as though he had lost his mind. Sharpay mouth was hanging open, Gabriella had raised eyebrows and Chad had a smile on his face.

"Wow." Chad said laughing a bit throwing the football in the air and catching it again.

"Not only are you obsessed with a girl you know nothing about you don't even know how old she is." Sharpay said. She looked down at Gabriella with a sneer curling her lips. "Well…I would have to say she looks around twelve or something. Kinda boyish."

Troy glared at Sharpay, still wondering what in the hell was wrong with her. She was usually never mean to people…well except for Kathleen. He would have to talk to her later to see what her problem was.

Gabriella eyes quickly left Sharpay's as she noticed her glaring towards her. She wondered what she had done to instantly make the girl dislike her so much. She didn't think she did anything. This was her first time meeting her after all. And what did she mean twelve? She wasn't boyish? Was she? She looked down at herself, well at least her father's friends didn't think so, she tried to joke to herself but it just sent a wave of nausea through her stomach. She shook her head of the blonde girl and focused on the guy that was standing in front of her. She had never really thought about age before. Probably because she already knew his and her age being so close to his wasn't really necessary to look at.

"I'm seventeen." She said softly looking behind her to see if the bus was coming.

Troy nodded his head and watched as she turned around leaning forward just a bit to look down the street. He sighed looking back at Chad, ignoring Sharpay, who shrugged his shoulders, He cleared his throat to try and get her attention she didn't look back at him. He looked at Chad again who just shook his head and continued on tossing his ball.

"Gabriella?" Troy said getting her attention. She turned around her hair swinging with her. He eyes caught him off guard. They had a look of confusion, and looked a bit frightened. He frowned at this. "Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah. I just really need to get home and the bus is late." She said looking down the street again.

"We can take you." Chad said suddenly nudging Troy a little. Troy looked at Chad and rolled his eyes. Of course when the words had poured out of those luscious lips of hers he was going to ask her if she would life a ride but of course Chad had to open his mouth once again. He looked back at Gabriella who had turned around again. There was no doubt that there was a shocked and frightening look in her face as she shook her head.

"No. I can ride the bus." She said quickly.

"Come on. You gotta live around here somewhere if you catch the bus." Chad said.

"Chad!" Troy snapped at him. He looked at Gabriella and smiled at her. "Listen we can drop you off. It really won't be a problem." He said.

She shook her head again.

"No. Really it's fine. I can catch the bus."

"Look, the bus is late and you don't want to get in trouble with your parents do you? Let us drop you off and you'll make it in time. I promise."

She was quiet for a moment as though she was thinking it through. He urged her to say okay though his mind. Say okay, say okay.

"She said she wanted to catch the bus. Let her catch the fucking bus." Sharpay said out of nowhere.

"Shar!" Chad snapped at her. Troy watched as Chad grabbed her arm and pulled her away. Whispering fiercely to her and she back. He glanced at Gabriella.

"So what do you say?"

Gabriella looked once more down the street to see if the bus was coming. Though she would out of her mind to not take Troy Bolton upon the request she was a bit scared and who would be knowing what she did. If her father ever caught her anywhere near a car with a guy sitting in it…if he caught her near a guy at all…more hell would have to be paid. Though she knew that if she didn't get home soon, he would wonder where she was at…if he was even home. It wasn't like he was going to get out and walk her to the door. She'd make sure of that. She'd make sure that as soon as they pulled up to the house she would hop out and run inside…yes that's what she would do. She thought came to her and she inhaled softly…yes she would do that.

"Okay." She said standing up from the bench.

Troy smiled widely and it almost made her heart melt as he did. He wanted to grab her arm or hand to led her over to Chad's car be decided once again he didn't want her to think that he was crazy just touching her and stuff. He pointed to where Chad and Sharpay was now by his car arguing and she walked past him. Troy felt a faint smile come to his face as he smelled the scent coming off of her. He hadn't noticed it before. Like honey and strawberries. It was a weird combination but it seemed to work. He followed her to the car and helped her get in opening the passenger door for her. She had looked up at him with shocked. Hadn't she ever had someone open a door for her? He sighed as he climbed in behind her as well as Sharpay and Chad.

When Chad had started the car the music that they had been playing blared loudly making Gabriella jump just a bit. She looked over at Troy who had just laughed a bit. She frowned at him and looked out the window. She was sitting so close to the door that she felt like she was going to fall out of it. Troy smiled over at her and shook his head. He wished that she could figure out what she was thinking about…what was going through her mind. He cleared his throat.

"You don't have to be afraid." He said to her. Her eyes snapped towards his and Troy smiled again. They were filled with fire, wonder, and once again a bit of confusion.

"Afraid? Who said I was afraid?" she snapped at him.

Chad laughed. "Whoa…looks like you got your hands filled Bolton." He said turning out of the shopping mall.

"Hooray for him." Sharpay said under her breath earning a glare from both Troy and Chad.

Gabriella smiled just a little as she looked over at the blue eyed wonder. His eyes were soft as they scanned her face and those soft eyes made her extremely uncomfortable. She didn't see eyes like that. She gave him a soft smile before she turned and looked out the window again just as her bus passed the car and made its way down to her bus stop.

* * *

**A/N: So i hope you liked the chapter and once again it'd be awesome if you could review and tell me how you liked it**


	5. Burnt Steaks

**A/N: Okay guys here is chapter five, the longest chapter I have ever written it's 9,128 words…ever…so I hope you like it…it's mostly Troy and Gabi getting to know each other…I'm not just going to throw them together and have them make babies…sooo yeah I hope you like it… I'd just like to thank you for all the reviews I was going to do a dedication but this chapter is so long I'll just do it in chapter six, I was thinking about splitting up this chapter up but…I like same event to be in the same chapter…soo here ya go. **

* * *

Chapter 5

Chad said she was weird. Sharpay said she was hiding something. Troy didn't know what to think. Especially when they had dropped her off. She had given Chad simple directions, telling him to take a right here or take a left there. There was no mention of street or highway names or anything like that. He had looked at her the entire car ride and she would glance over at him every once in a while, always with that confused look on her perfect face. She hadn't said much and Troy didn't ask much. He really didn't feel comfortable asking her questions…questions that would help him get to know her, with Chad and Sharpay in the car. He asked her the basic things like where she went to school, did she play any sports, what did she like to do for fun but other than that the ride was pretty quiet. When she had voiced that they were almost to her house. Troy had bought up the party again.

"_So about the party, "I'll pick you up?" He has asked, really wanting her to say yes._

_She had bit her bottom lip, her eyes wide as though she was thinking it over something. Troy gave her a questioning look. Didn't she already say she was going to go? Was she backing out again?_

"_I don't think the bus goes out there." Sharpay had commented. Troy kicked the back of her seat making her gasp a little. He smiled at Gabriella waiting for her answer._

"_Umm…" she had said looking out the window quickly before looking back at him. "Okay." She said. _

_When they had turned right on a street, Troy made sure to remember it…Hazelwood. He crammed it into his memory so not to forget it. It was a nice neighborhood. Trees lining the sidewalks, a variety of different houses that all looked well kept. They weren't mansions of any kind, more like your basic two story home, basic and simple, but he liked it. The whole neighborhood looked very homey. His eyes had gone back to the beautiful girl again when she had suddenly called out to Chad to pull over and stop the car. _

"_This is me." She said opening the door._

_Troy opened his door also preparing to walk her to the door, like a gentlemen should, before her voice stopped him._

"_NO!" she almost screamed. Troy, Chad, and Sharpay stared at her in amazement. She had chuckled slightly before clearing her throat. "I mean. I can walk myself. My father…ummm…you know how it is with fathers and boys…" she said. _

"_O..k.." Troy said slowly, closing his door again. He looked out of the door that she still had opened. "So tomorrow around six?" he asked her through the open door._

_She looked at the ground and nodded her head. "Yeah. Just park right here and stay here. I'll come out and meet you. Really okay?" she said. He had noticed that she seemed pretty desperate with this request and decided that for right now he would do what she wanted. He nodded his head. She smiled and looked towards Chad and Sharpay. "It was really nice to meet both of you and thank you for the ride." She said._

"_No problem. See ya tomorrow." Chad called out._

_Sharpay said nothing._

"_Bye Troy." She said before turning around and making her way up the paved walkway, towards a two story brick house that had perfectly trimmed shrubs in front of large windows. _

_Troy smiled at the way his name sounded on her lips. He cleared his throat before he called out to her. "Gabriella!" she turned around and gave him a questioning look. "Call me tonight. Please?" he asked. Her eye brows had raised and she tilted her head to the side, as if considering, before she nodded her head slowly and made her way towards the house. She had went to the side of the house probably going through the side or back door before she turned around once more and waved at him, disappearing from his site._

That whole incident right there had brought out the whole Chad thinking that she was weird and Sharpay thinking she was hiding something. To tell the truth Troy just thought it was nerves. She was hanging out with celebrities after all. It had to be just nerves. What else is there?

He sat on his bed. His eyes glanced out the window and he sighed at the darkness. His back was against the head bored, his knees propped up that was holding his notebook. His eyes glanced over the long letter that the director of the movie had sent him. It was just something basic…telling him that he had better already know his lines, that the cast should get together on their own time and maybe run them together…it was what a responsible actor would do. Troy just rolled his eyes. He had started memorizing some of his lines but he had been so preoccupied lately that…well…he just couldn't. He saved the message before checking his myspace. Yes even Troy Bolton had a myspace and facebook page but of course he only accepted friends and had it on privet so it wouldn't be run over by fans, which most of them thought it wasn't the real Troy Bolton's page anyways.

Just as he was about to close the computer he heard his cell phone ring. He got up from his bed and made his way to his living room where he had set the phone at on the table. He scratched his bare chest as he sat on the couch, reached for his phone and put his pajama pant leg on the table. He looked down at his phone and scoffed lightly as he saw the name. Sharpay. He was pretty upset at the way she had treated Gabriella early that day. He didn't know what her problem was. So he had met a girl, and he liked her, what was so wrong with that. The little comments that she had thrown out wasn't her at all.

He sighed the phone stopped ringing. A missed call appeared on his screen and he pressed his call button twice to call her back. It rung twice before she actually picked up.

"Troy!" Sharpay said on the other end breathless. "I just called you, why didn't you pick up."

"I missed it sorry." Troy said monotone.

"What are you doin?"

"Nothin." He said quickly. "What do you want?"

Sharpay scoffed. "Rude much? Damn I just called to see how you were. No need to get all bitchy on me."

"Oh like you got all bitchy with Gabriella today. What was with you? You acted like a complete bitch to her. She didn't do a damn thing to you."

"Oh come on Troy are you serious. She's nothing but a silly fan that's in love with Troy Bolton. She'll tell all her friends and you'll basically be a prize or…something."

Troy looked at his phone in a confused look before placing it back to his ear. "What?"

"Look she's…she's weird. Did you see the way she was acting today?"

"That's because she's probably not used to being surrounded by three celebrates."

"No that wasn't it. She was…look I don't know. She's fucking weird okay. Why don't you just forget her?"

"What and go back to Kathleen."

"No! I didn't say that. Just…can't you find someone else who isn't…freaky."

Troy scoffed again before hanging up the phone. He tossed it on the cushion next to him and crossed his arm over his bare chest. Stupid bitch. She didn't even know Gabriella…well he didn't know Gabriella but still. She wasn't weird. Yeah she was a bit jittery but Troy blamed that on the famous celebrity thing. He knew he would be a bit shocked if George Clooney every invited him to a party. The phone rang again and Troy ignored it before getting up and going to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. His mind was on tomorrow.

He would pick her up, they would talk some on the way to the party, he would introduce her to his friends, the two would hang out some more, and hopefully when he asked her out on a real date she would say yes. That was what he hoped would happen. He hoped that nothing would happen that she didn't want to see him again, or be so embarrassed that she didn't want to see him again. He didn't know why she was the one that had to walk past him that day but he was glad that it was her.

During this time of thinking his phone had been blowing up the whole time. Troy walked back to the couch with a scowl on his face. What in the hell did Sharpay want. To try and belittle Gabriella again, to apologize. He really didn't want to talk to her, but he decided to anyway. Maybe he would yell at her. That would make him feel better towards her. He brought the phone up to his ear and pushed the call button without even looking at who was calling.

"What!" he almost yelled at. "What do you want now?"

"Umm...sorry I thought you wanted me to call."

Troy mouth dropped open as he began to pace his living room. He rolled his eyes to himself. His hand tightened around the phone as he closed his eyes tightly, completely embarrassed. Shit!

"Gabriella. Umm…hi…I'm sorry I thought you were someone else." He rushed out.

"Do you want me to let you go?"

"No! No, I want to talk to you. "He walked to his bedroom room, and laid down on his bed the phone still at his ear. "So how are you?"

"Pretty good. I guess. I can't believe I'm talking to Troy Bolton." She whispered.

"Yeah well I can't believe I'm talking to Gabriella….what's your last name?" he laughed.

"Montez."

"Montez. Sounds good. Gabriella Montez." He said rolling her name off his tongue. He listened to her laugh. "So what did you do today after we dropped you off?"

"umm…nothing much."

"Nothing at all? You didn't watch television or listened to any music."

She laughed again. "Well I did some homework."

"Homework. Always a good thing to do."

"Yeah."

Troy frowned. He had just noticed that she was whispering their whole conversation. "Why are you whispering?"

"I am?"

"yeah."

"Oh…well…my parents are uh…sleeping…and I'm not suppose to be…umm…on the phone…"

"It's uh..." he took the phone from his ear and looked at the time on his cell. "It's only nine." He laughed.

"Oh well…they are kinda strict."

"Is that why you didn't want me to walk you to your door."

"umm…yeah. Yep, that's why."

There was an awkward silence the a few seconds each thinking of what to say to the other person, without making the other person uncomfortable.

"So about the party tomorrow…" he said rolling his eyes to himself…that was the best he could come up with.

"Yeah, the uh, Hollywood party."

Troy laughed, "It's not a Hollywood party, Chad and Taylor are just having some friends over."

"I thought it was suppose to be at Taylor McKessie's house."

"Well Taylor kinda moved in with Chad. She's basically taken over." Troy turned on his side and pressed his ear tighter to the phone. "I could listen to you talk all day, you have a very sexy voice." He said smiling. He didn't hear anything on the other end. Did he make her uncomfortable, something he didn't want to do in the first place? Usually girls were ecstatic if Troy complemented them but he had to remind himself that she was just an ordinary girl."Gabriella?"

"Yeah." She said still whispering.

"Did I upset you when I said—"

"No. No. Thank you." She said simply.

Troy sighed. She was very hard to read over the phone. If she was right in front of him he could try and read her eyes and from the short time they spent with each other she couldn't really hide her emotions very well in her eyes. He decided to change the topic back to the part. Maybe she'll be a bit more interested. "So the party, are you excited."

"More like nervous. All of those celebrities. I mean how many people do you know that hang out with celebrities." She paused for a moment and laughed. "Well how many normal people."

"Hey I'm normal!" Troy joked. "But I know what you mean. You don't have to be nervous. We're people just like you."

"What uh…what should I wear?"

Troy shrugged his shoulders as though she was really there, thinking of saying something perverted but decided against it. "It doesn't matter. I'm going to be wearing jeans and a polo shirt maybe; it's not formal at all. Chad will probably attempt to grill some burgers or something. "

"Okay." She said quietly. "Listen I should get off." Troy thought of another perverted thought. "I don't want my parents to catch me." She finished.

Troy nodded his head. "Okay. I'll uh...pick you up around six. Would that be alright?"

"Yeah. That would be fine."

"Right in front of your house right?"

"Yeah…right in front of my house. I'll meet you out there."

Troy smiled taking a deep breath trying to think of anything to say to her to keep her on the line without making her feel creeped out. "Uh yeah. I will be there. Bye Gabriella."

"Bye Troy Bolton." She said before he heard soundless sound on the other end.

He took the phone from his ear and looked at it sleepily, as he saved the number that she called from. All he could see at that moment was mocha, chocolate eyes, staring back at her. Of course, being a man, those eyes were replaced with something else that. He knew that he shouldn't have been thinking about that way about her but hey…she was a hottie, and she had finally called him.

* * *

As much as she was excited that she was going to an actually go to a party with Troy Bolton, she had to be cautious to make sure that that excitement was under control and not noticed by her father. If he felt that anything was not the way it was suppose to be, well, it could stop her chances of going. The fact that she was still even contemplating on going was a surprised to her. She would have never even thought of doing anything that would make her father upset at her. She had always tried to do everything in her power to try and not upset him in anyway, and now here she was sneaking out the house and meeting a guy, something she knew her father would be upset about.

All day at school she had been a nervous wreck. Though it wasn't as though anyone noticed anything different. She had still been quiet, still had lunch by herself. Yes, on the outside it seemed like the nameless girl was normal but inside she was a mess. Thoughts of how everything from how the party would go to what would happen to her if her father found out to how she was going to get out the house without her father coming out in the first place ran through her head. The thoughts wouldn't stop. She was anxious, but excited.

She was surprised that she actually had the guts to call Troy last night. At the time her father was in his own room with a women having sex with her. Disgusting sex. It actually made her stomach heave, especially since she could hear it _through_ the thin walls. She needed something to occupy herself and of course the only thing that came to her was the sexy blue-eyed boy. She had called him, her heart racing wondering if he was going to pick up and if he didn't pick up what she would say on his voicemail. He had picked up and she couldn't believe that she was having a conversation with him. She didn't think she would every get excited and all fan-like on the outside. That would be embarrassing. But inside she could act all excited the way she wanted. When he had mentioned that her voice was sexy many emotions ran through her. She was uncomfortable because every time she heard the mention of sex or anything to that nature she would tense up. Especially since that night. She was also surprised, when he had mentioned it. She didn't think anything about her was sexy…much less her voice. The last emotion she felt was unlike anything she had ever had felt before. It felt like a tingling sensation, like her stomach had heaved in a good way, if there was a good way.

When the bell rung that day, for the first time she bolted out of her seat with the rest of her classmates, anxious to get out of school and go home. She had run to the bus stopping, hoping to catch an earlier bus, which she was thankful that she did. She had continued to run down the upturned cement sidewalk towards her house. She had stood at the front door trying to catch her breath before she opened it and walked in. She took a deep breath before going straight to her room to put her book bag up. She took her phone out and looked at the time. 3:32. She still had an hour and a half to get ready and to actually sneak out of her house without her father knowing. Her stomach growled loudly but she ignored it. At least she didn't have to worry about whether or not she was going to be eating tonight.

Her head snapped to the side as she heard a loud crash. She frowned as she walked out of her room; she slowly and quietly walked towards her father room where the crash happened and took a deep breath before cracking it open and peered through it. Her father was sitting on his bed, a brunette lying with her head in his lap. Her eyes then went towards the bed table and her eyebrows rose as she looked at the four needles sitting on it as well as a decent size of marijuana. She sighed as her eyes went back to her father and the brunette.

"Now this is a couch, right." Her father said. Gabriella eyes scanned the room she didn't see a couch. "Now I can understand why they call it a couch. But this shit right here. This is a love seat. I can't even sit on that if I'm not in love." The brunette laughed.

Though it wasn't funny a smile did form on Gabriella's face. He was out of it and if he was out of it he might be more likely not to mess with her or seek her out. She looked at them again and watched as her father's body relaxed and she thought he had either passed out or fell asleep. Gabriella closed the door and made her way back into her room. She quickly went to her closet and shifted through the clothes that she had. He said that it wasn't formal, and that was fine with Gabriella. She didn't have anything formal to wear anyways. She decided on a simple sun dress that she had in the back of her closet. She had bought it a while ago, with her father's money, and had only worn it once. As soon as her he saw her in it, he went ballistic, telling her that only sluts wore dresses of that kind. Of course she had been taught a lesson because of the incident and hadn't been able raise her arm above her head because it had hurt so much. Well she didn't believe that of course and today she would wear it. Besides she was already doing things that he wouldn't agree with…a dress wouldn't hurt.

After taking a quick shower, checking on her father again only to see that he was still passed out. A quick thought ran through her head, wondering if he was dead, before she pushed it out of her mind and went to get dressed. Once she was dressed she looked at herself in the mirror with a frown on her face. The light yellow and white printed flower dress, with the plain white flat slip-ons looked alright on her. She wasn't the prettiest person alive…well she wasn't pretty at all, she was passable. Of course the insecurities came back and she wondered once again why Troy Bolton of all people was interested in her. She sighed deeply running her hands through her hair. She decided to leave it down. She looked at her face that had no make-up what-so-ever. She didn't wear make-up, it wasn't like she had anyone to wear it for. Though she had bought some, putting it on late at night to see if she could look like the girls at school. She opened her dresser moving her underwear to the side to pick up a tube of mascara, lip gloss, and eyeliner. It wasn't a lot but maybe she could pull it off. Once she carefully applied each product she leaned back to absorb her work. Passable. She sighed deeply before she reached over to her phone and looked at the time. 4:42. almost time.

She took a deep breath before grabbing her purse and stepping into the hallways trying her best not to make noise as she stepped out of the house and closed the door softly behind her. She let out a huge breath not even realizing that she was holding it. She walked down the walkway to prepare to wait for freakin Troy Bolton to pick her up.

* * *

Hazelwood….Hazelwood….That was the street that Troy had in his head and was saying on his lips. He glanced at the clock and sighed. 5:10. Already late. What if she didn't want to go to the party anymore? What if she decided not to talk to him at all anymore? He shook his head of the negative thoughts and sighed as he finally turned on the correct street. He prayed to God that she was there and luckily she was right there standing at the edge of the curb twisting from side to side staring at the ground. He smiled as he pulled his truck up next to her making her up a little. Troy laughed. Man was she jumpy. He watched as she reached for the door to open it but he quickly locked it. He put the truck in park before unlocking it and quickly getting out.

"You have to let me be a gentlemen this time and open the door for you." He said as he rounded the truck. He smiled down at her and couldn't help but to notice how beautiful she was. The sundress that she wore fit her body perfectly. So perfectly that Troy wanted to pull down the straps and snatch the dress off of her. He took a deep breath as he opened the door.

"Thank you." She said smiling at her. Troy watched as she got into the truck his eyes on her waste…and some other areas before he snapped out of it and went back to the other to get in. He started up the truck and pulled off.

"You look beautiful." He said looking over at her.

"Thank you. You do too." She said and blushed a little. Gabriella looked out the window rolling her eyes to herself. She took a deep breath. _Okay today is all about you and Troy and having fun, nothing else,_ she said to herself. _You will have fun and have nothing to worry about. You will act like any normal girl, okay take a deep breath and be normal._

Troy nodded his thanks and continued to drive. "So what did you do today, besides think of me?"

She laughed and Troy could swear that his heart fell into his stomach. "How could you ever guess? Yes all day I was thinking about you. How you fill my mind. "She said sarcastically. Troy raised his eye brows in her direction. He was a bit surprised seeing how the last few times he saw her she barely said a word.

"Well I can't help it if I distract you throughout your day." He said charmingly.

"Let's see. Today I went to school, had lunch, went back to school, got home, got ready and here I am." She said pointing leaving out the rest.

"Wow what a busy day. How was school?"

"Boring." She said

"Hmm. I never got to go to High School." He said

"You don't want to."

"Why?"

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders. "It's a jungle. It's nothing but a popularity contest, a place where you get judge because of what you are or who you are. School isn't school. It's basically a club. If you don't have the right outfit. You get bounced on your ass."

Troy frowned before glancing her way before looking back to the street. "I'm guessing you aren't one of the popular kids." He asked cautiously.

She shook her head calmly. "No. Not one of the popular kids."

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Why?" she said laughing.

"Umm…" he looked at her. "I don't know. Just seemed like an I'm sorry moment."

"Don't be. Life is good." She said smiling tightly before laughing. "Besides, I'm going to a party with Troy Bolton!" she said clapping her hands.

Troy laughed at her enthusiasm. "Damn straight. We are going to go to this party and have fun, and eat and be stupid."

"Stupid?"

"Look I don't wanna get your hopes up but this isn't a dancing party or anything like that. Just a group of friends hanging out."

She smiled. "Well good. Anything more than that and I might pass out." Troy laughed. "So how far is Chad Danforth and Taylor McKessie house?"

"Maybe about an hour and a half. Why are you saying their full names?" He asked looking at her with a weird look.

"Umm…because they are famous….and…"

"I'm famous." He said as pretending he was hurt.

"Well what am I suppose to call them."

Troy thought for a moment tapping his finger to his chin before he glanced over at her. "Umm…I don't know. Maybe Chad and Taylor. Just a guess."

She rolled her eyes. "What if they think I'm being disrespectful?"

"Why would they think that? We're all around the same age. It's not like they are elderly people commanding respect."

She sighed and nodded her head. Troy looked over at her and wanted to grab the small hand that sat next on the seat. He restrained himself. She wasn't his girlfriend. They weren't even dating. Gabriella couldn't actually believe that she was laughing and joking around. This pep talking to herself help her a lot. She needed to do that more often.

An hour and a half later that was filled with talking and joking, Troy pulled up to a gated house. He stopped at the gate, rolled down his window, and pressed a button on an intercom. No one answered and he pressed it again…and again…and again…

"Damn someone pick up." He snapped. He looked over at Gabriella who had a smile on her face shaking her head. He beeped the horn several times trying to get someone's attention.

"WHAT!" the voice on the intercom said.

"Open the fuc—open the gate." He said glancing at Gabriella trying to watch his language.

"Damn man, blowing the horn like some goddamn bastard. You should—"the voice rambled on.

Troy rolled his eyes.

"You know you don't have to watch your langrage around me." Gabriella said. "I mean as long as you're not calling me a bitch or anything."

Troy laughed and drove up the drive-way once the gate opened up. "I was trying to be respectful."

"Thank you." She said sounding surprised. Troy smiled at her. For as long as Gabriella could remember she had never felt like anyone respected her. Troy parked the car and turned it off.

"Stay there." He said before getting out and walking around the truck to her side and opened the door. "Here ya go." He said holding out his hand for her to hold while she got out.

"Thank you."

They made their way up to the door walking side by side. "You're so proper." He said smiling down at her.

"I'm proper? You're the one opening doors for people and watching your language." She laughed.

"Yeah well…" he shrugged it off and opened the door for her and waited until she walked in first.

"And holding doors open." She continued.

"Okay I get it. We're both proper."

Gabriella smiled and took the time to look around the huge house. It was something of what you'd see on the show MTV Cribs. It was very elegant the walls trimmed with gold and silver. Taylor must have decorated because of how Troy talked about Chad he seemed incapable to do something like that. The hallway had frames of pictures. Most of them were of Chad and Taylor but there was a few with the cast of the movie, which she guessed they were considered friends. Some that looked like family. They walked into a spacious living room that had a huge television and black leather couches. There were two people sitting on the couch and Gabriella's heart raced as she recognized who it was. She took a deep calming breath. She couldn't freak out. She had to act cool.

"Gabriella this is Kelsi Nielsen, and Martha Cox." He said walking over to the two girls. Gabriella smiled down at the two girls. They looked up at her with smiles on their face. Martha stood up quickly and shook her hand.

"Hi. So, this is Gabriella. Chad has been talking about you all day." She said laughing.

"What the hell? Why?" Troy asked.

"I don't know. Excited I guess." Martha said to him before turning back to Gabriella. "So Troy dragged you to our party huh?" she asked.

Gabriella laughed. "I wanted to come. I'm so honored to meet you guys." She said.

"Sit down." Kelsi said quietly.

Gabriella looked at Troy and he nodded, "I'll be back I'm going to go find Chad."

"Just treat us like we're your friend's girl." Martha said.

Gabriella smiled tightly. She didn't have any friends so how was she suppose to treat them like her friends. She nodded her head. "Okay. So uh…what have you guys been up to?"

"Learning lines." Kelsi said. "It's so hard. But this movie is going to blow away the rest." She said. "Well I hope so."

"What's the movie actually about?" Gabriella asked.

Kelsi looked excited as she scooted closer to Gabriella. "Well its HMS: Senior Year and it's about…."

Troy made his walk through the house walking towards the kitchen. He smiled as he saw a girl with shoulder length brownish/black hair looking down over the counter. He quietly made his way behind her without making noise. He smiled as he touched her sides making her jumped.

"What the--!" she screamed out loud.

Troy covered his face as Taylor turned around and hit him with her hands. "Ow!" he said laughing.

"What the hell is your problem? Sneaking up on me like that." She said holding her hand to her heart. She put a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry." He said. "You know I love you Tay." He said reaching over and grabbing a chip out the bowl she was pouring into.

"So you finally made it. About time."

"Yep."

"Soo..."

"Soo what?" Troy grabbed another chip.

"Where is she?"

"Where is who?"

"Stop acting like a jackass. Gabriella. Your girlfriend." Taylor said taking another bag of chips and pouring it into another bowl.

"She's not my girlfriend. She's just someone I'm getting to know. She's in the living room talking to Kelsi and Martha."

Taylor nodded her head before going to the fridge and taking out some potatoes. Taylor was always a good cook, and Troy couldn't get enough of it. He knew that she got her cooking from her mother and grandmother. Troy remembered going to Sunday dinner with Chad over to the McKessies. Man that was some food he would never forget.

"Where is Chad?'' He asked.

"Outside on the balcony attempting to grill. And notice I used the word attempting.'' She said laughing.

Troy smiled and made his way to the outdoor balcony that was attached to the kitchen. He opened the glass door and looked out to see Chad standing over the grill wearing a chef hat and an apron saying "Don't kiss the Chef…Fuck me." Troy laughed as he made his way over to him.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked him.

Chad looked up grinning up at him. He opened the grill and the balcony was suddenly filled with smoke.

"Dude!" Troy said swiping at the smoke. "What the fuck? What are you making?"

The smoke finally cleared and Chad looked down at the food and smiled. "Just some burgers, hotdogs, steaks."

Troy looked down at the grill and crossed his arms. "Well the burgers and hotdogs look good. The steaks …dude I don't think they are suppose to be that color."

"What do you mean?" Chad asked with a questioning look. "It looks like stake."

"No dude it looks like pieces of coal. Maybe you should take it off."

"Listen I know how to make stake." Chad said.

"Dude it's suppose to be medium well…not…burnt to a crisp." Troy said trying to take the prongs from Chad to flip over the steaks. Chad moved it out the way.

"Hey!"

"Chad—"

"Are you cooking?" Chad asked.

"No."

"Are you going to eat the steaks?"

"No, but—"

"Then let me do my fucking job. This is how I want my steaks so fuck off." Chad said closing the lid to the grill. Troy smiled and shook his head.

"Okay fine."

"Thank you."

Troy sighed with his arms still crossed as she gave Chad a pathetic look. His nose was turned up with the smell and he sighed again. As much as he wanted to say something he decided that Chad would just have to learn it the hard way by eating burnt stake.

Gabriella had walked into large spacious kitchen. She had just met Jason and Zeke who had run down the long staircase. Martha and Kelsi had interrogated them after introducing her to them about what they had been doing upstairs. They had said they were doing nothing plenty of times and Kelsi and Martha couldn't get it out of them. Gabriella had stood watched as Jason kept shooting glances over at Martha and she wondered if they were talking about the girls themselves. She had then decided that she would go find Troy. She thought that she had gotten lost in the house but she peered around several corners until she walked into a homey kitchen. She walked into the middle of the kitchen not seeing anyone in there and she looked around.

"Here it is!"

Gabriella jumped and her eyes widen as the olive skinned girl suddenly popped up from the counter. She was holding a bowl, a strand of hair in her face as well as a smile. They both stared at each other at first. Gabriella from shock that she was in the kitchen with Taylor McKessie and Taylor just giving the girl a once over look.

"Hey, you must be Gabriella." She said setting the bowl on the counter and walking around to her shaking her hand.

"Yeah and uh…you're Taylor McKessie." Gabriella said in an almost trembling voice.

Taylor laughed and rolled her eyes. "Calm down girl." She took Gabriella's hand and pulled her over to the counter. "Here peel these potatoes, while we talk." She said starting to cut up some onions.

Gabriella stared at her. "We're going to talk? About what?"

"About you and Troy and…you." Taylor said pointing at the potatoes. "Come on girl. Get to peeling."

Gabriella smiled and shook her head as she began to peel.

"I would have asked the others to help me but, they suck at cooking."

"Well how do you know I don't suck at cooking?" she asked

"Umm.. I don't know. You look like you can cook. " Taylor said. Gabriella didn't smile. Of course she knew how to cook. She had been cooking as far back as she could remember. She even had a brief memory when she was four or five boiling hotdogs on the stove. She sighed and continued to peel potatoes after potatoes while she and Taylor talked. She had to admit as soon as they started talking Gabriella felt a certain connection towards Taylor. She didn't think it was the fact that she was famous. They seemed to laugh at the same things and like the same things. She was very easy to talk to and Gabriella actually felt as though she could actually make a real friend.

A while later after potatoes had been peeled, cooked, and cut up into a potato salad, macaroni and cheese had been cooked, and the drinks had been set out Taylor and Gabriella was still in the kitchen making a salad laughing as though they were old friends. Gabriella had forgotten a bit about Troy until he walked in with Chad. Her heart dropped at the site of him, and a smile played on her face. He was so beautiful, even if his face was a bit darker than normal because of the soot on it. He had a scowl on his face as he looked towards Chad. Those perfect lips, so full and perfect. He jerked his head to the side to move his hair out of his face and Gabriella wished that her hands were running through that gorgeous head of sandy hair. His eyes snapped towards her and they lit with a smile. She smiled back, thought shaking her head about why she was feeling this way, why she was thinking this way. Why? What kinda question was that. This was Troy Bolton. But it was something more.

She continued to look at him, in his eyes as he walked towards her. Her heart sped up just a little as the smile fell off of her face. She could feel herself tremble just a little before she felt a sharp pain in on her hand. She looked down in her hand and didn't move as she saw the blood seep out of her hand. It hurt, but she could tolerate it. She had felt worse things. She sat the onion down that she had been cutting into the salad before she looked down to see if any blood had got in the bowl. Good, none had.

"Gabi!" Troy ran up to her grabbing her hand. He looked down at the long cut that sliced the inside of her hand and looked at her in shock. There was no pain on her face. She had just looked at it as though it was nothing. "Are you alright?" he asked leading her over to the sink.

"Yeah." She said simply looking at him.

Troy let some cold water run before he ran her hand under the water softly washing off the blood. He looked over at her to make sure he wasn't hurting and found her staring up at him with a look of wonder on her face.

"What? Am I hurting you?" he asked looking back down at the cut.

"No."

"What is it?"

"You…you called me Gabi." She said a soft smile falling on her face.

Troy looked at her and smirked. "Well that's your name…just a shorter version of it. "

He looked back down at her hand to make sure the blood had stopped before turning around to Taylor. "Hey Tay you got a first aid kit?" he asked her, though she said nothing.

Taylor and Chad both were standing over the meat. Both Taylor and Chad had their arms crossed looking at the meet.

"Twenty-three dollars a steak Chad, and you had to fuck them up."

"Fuck them up! They are perfect."

Taylor picked up a steak and held it up in front of his face. "Does this look perfect? Does this look edible?"

"Yes."

"Oh my god! I swear you're paying me back for each steak." She said.

"What? It's fifteen steaks here!"

"So?"

"Baby—"

"No."

"Taylor!" Troy called out. She looked at him with raised eyebrows. "First aid?"

She sighed and walked out the kitchen looking back at Chad again with a shake of her head. Troy leaned a hip on the sink his hand still in Gabriella. Of course he would be a fool not to take advantage of this situation. He gently rubbed the back of her hand with one finger feeling the softness of her skin. He was a bit surprised that she hadn't cried out or…cried when it happened. She was a strong girl. He looked over at Chad who was looking down at the meat. They were both covered in soot because of the smoke that had came from the grill, Troy decided that he would go get cleaned up as soon as Gabriella was taken care of.

"Here Troy." Taylor said coming back into the kitchen. He was surprised to see Sharpay and Ryan Evans following her.

Ryan went straight to where Chad was and shook his head in the direction of the steaks and Chad sneered at him. Sharpay had walked in with a small smile on her face. She had on a sparkly tank top with a leather pink mini skirt, with high white heels. She gave Taylor a hug, patted Chad on the back and made her way over to Troy. She stopped quickly as she watched Troy wrap Gabriella's hand up with some gauze. Troy watched her out the corner of his eye as she continued to walk towards them.

"Troy." She said walking up to him and hugging him. Troy hugged her back. She was his friend. Gabriella smiled softly at Sharpay as she had made her way over to them. She watched as she hugged Troy, her hand moving slowly up his back. A feeling that wasn't unfamiliar at all towards her flowed through her body, it was just this time as it flowed through her body it was more intense than ever. She had absolutely no reason to feel jealous that Troy was being felt up by another woman. Especially since that woman was just a friend right? Okay calm down Gabriella, it's not like he's your boyfriend or anything.

She watched as Sharpay looked directly in her eyes before she leaned from Troy and kissed him on the cheek slowly. She kept any expression off of her face and instead looked away.

Troy gave Sharpay a weird look and sighed deeply. "Hey Sharpay." He said before he crossed his arms and leaned against the stove. He watched as her eyes scanned Gabriella before turning away from her. "Aren't you going to say hi to Gabriella?" he asked his eyes narrowing.

Sharpay glanced at her again. "Hi." She said simply.

Gabriella smiled at her. "Hi Sharpay. How are you doing?"

"Oh…food! I'm starved." Sharpay said turning around to the counter and took a chip placing it in her mouth.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Taylor asked giving her a questioning look. She looked between Gabriella and Sharpay. "Did…something happen between…."

"No. Sharpay just has a stick up her ass." Troy said sneering at her.

"Excuse me?" Sharpay gasped turning around.

"You heard me. Every since—"

Gabriella cleared her throat. "Umm…I think I'm going to step outside." She said starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Gabriella you don't have to—"

"No. It's alright." She said smiling softly at him before making her way towards the balcony where the grill was. She really didn't want to be in the middle of an argument. Especially if it was about her.

A light breeze swirled around her and she took a deep breath, before putting her hands on the railing looking down over the grounds. The pool was right below, lined with small lights. It looked amazing. She sighed deeply taking in the sweet air and actually trying to figure out how she actually ended up here, in this place with a group of people that were way more special than her. She heard a slight click of the door but didn't turn around.

"Gabriella?" she heard a voice.

"Yes."

She looked to her right and saw someone walk up to her. She looked up and her eyes falling on Ryan Evans. He was dressed very stylish in a pair of straight blue jeans with brown dress shows and belt. He had on a button up white shirt that had some kinda weird pattern on it with a dress coat looking jacket over that. Gabriella had always wondered if Ryan Evans was gay. It wasn't like there were any proof like pictures of him kissing another guy but he just sent off a vibe…but maybe it wasn't anything. She smiled at him as he leaned on the railing.

"How are you doing?" he asked crossing his arms

"Good."

"Are you sure, you looked a little…" he shrugged his shoulders trailing off.

"Oh no, I'm fine. I just didn't want to be in that little argument that I thought would happen. I kinda don't like conflict."

Ryan laughed. "Conflict? Honey if you're dating Troy Bolton he comes with conflict."

Gabriella's eyes widen and she shook her head. "No, no, Troy and I aren't dating. We're just friends."

"Friends? Hmm…he doesn't look at you like your friends." He said smiling. "I saw the way his eyes followed you when you walked out here."

Gabriella said nothing as she continued to look at Ryan, though her mind was on another matter. Troy liked her? The Troy Bolton? No. There was no way why would someone like him like someone like her. A nobody. She bit her lip and shook her head towards Ryan again. "No. I'm sure we're just friends."

Ryan laughed and turned around looking over the pool also. "Whatever you say." He said. "So what's up with you and Sharpay?"

"Nothing. I met her once and I don't think she really likes me."

"You mean this is only your second time meeting her? And you didn't do anything to her. That's weird."

"Yeah."

"Look, don't worry about her. Sharpay is usually very nice, really. She'll come around. You'll just have to give her time." He said putting a hand on her shoulder.

Gabriella smiled up at him. "Ya know I still can't believe I'm here with the High School Musical cast. It feels like a dream."

"Well at least you're not running around like some crazy fan." He said.

"Yeah well, I guessed that you guys had enough of those running around."

The continued to talk for a while more, mostly about the same things she and Taylor talked about, school, what did she like to do, stuff like that. She had been laughing at a joke that Ryan had just finished when she heard someone clear their throats behind him.

Troy watched as she turned around and gave him a soft smile. He smiled back and reached the two, taking a deep breath also. Him and Sharpay had just got into it again. He still hadn't gotten down to the fact of why she didn't like Gabriella so much. She continued to say that something was up with her and that she was weird. Taylor had commented that, that was a stupid reason not to like someone. He guessed that she kinda felt beat-up on and she stomped out of the kitchen and went into the living room. Troy had decided that he was going to come out and check on Gabriella. He knew that she was taken care of because Ryan was out there talking to her but he'd rather talk to her himself.

"Hey Gabriella. The foods ready wanna come and eat with me." He said smiling charmingly at her.

Ryan looked over at Gabriella with an 'I told you so.' Look when he felt her tremble a little. He smiled at her and shook his head walking past Troy and back into the kitchen. She nodded her head her eyes on his handsome face before walking towards her. They got their food, and Gabriella wasn't picky about what she was going to eat. She was hungry and she wasn't going to act like a mouse when it came to eating. If she was hungry which she was, then she should eat. After they got their food Troy led her through the living room, once again they said hi to the others, he led her down some stairs and out of glass doors leading to the pool. They made their way towards the pool and sat down next to it. Gabriella took her flip flops off and dipped her feet in the pool. Troy sat crossed legged and they both had their plates in their laps.

"I'm sorry about what happened." Troy said taking a bit of his hamburger.

"Don't worry about it."

Troy sighed. "Let's not talk about Sharpay. Let's talk about you and me."

Gabriella looked at him with wide eyes and a full mouth of potato salad. She swallowed slowly. "You and me?" she asked.

"Yeah. I want to get to know you some more."

"Don't you already know me enough?"

"Do you not want me to get to know you?"

Gabriella nodded her head. "I guess."

"You guess. Well that doesn't sound like you really want me to."

"Well I'm sorry it's just that…" she sighed. "I know I keep bringing it up but I'm sitting here with you out of all the people in the world, eating hamburgers and potatoes salad acting as though this is normal. You're famous and I'm…not."

Troy nodded his head slowly taking in everything she said. "Do you know why I stop you that day." He asked and continued when she shook her head. "Because you didn't stop."

"What."

"You didn't stop. You knew me as soon as you sat eyes on me. You knew who I was, yet you still didn't stop. I've never had that happen to me before."

"So I intrigued you because I passed you by."

Troy laughed. "Not to mention the fact that your hot." He said smiling at her.

Gabriella could feel the blood running to her cheeks and she looked away from him. She was having those feelings again. She felt…good that he thought that she was "hot." But then again…the people who thought that she was "hot" were the people who were mostly her father's friends. But he wasn't like them. First of all he wasn't her father's friend.

"Do I make you uncomfortable when I say things like that." He asked her. He noticed that every time he complemented on anything about her she got extremely quiet.

"No. No you don't."

Troy put his food aside and reached over and took her hand. He could feel her jump just a little and he frowned. "Gabriella, you don't have to lie to me."

He ran his finger up and down her small tanned hand. Gabriella looked at the movements his hands made and she felt as her stomach flutter again. She took slow deep breaths. "Just a little I guess." She whispered. "I mean look at whose telling me that.''

He smiled. "Well you are you know."

"Thank you then." She whispered before smiling up at him, "And you don't look too bad yourself."

Troy put his hand on his heart. "Oh well thank you so much."

They continued to talk for the next thirty minutes or so getting to know each other, though of course Gabriella always either left some things completely out or somewhat distorted the truth somewhat. She would never ever let him know about her "life." It would of course be embarrassing, and not to mention the fact that if he got mixed up with her his career would be in jeopardy right, with rumors and such. She had never believed that she would be in this situation. She could feel herself become more and more comfortable in his presence and it kind of scared her. She was usually always on guard, but that was falling with Troy Bolton. Ryan words came back to her. Did he really see her more than just friends? Of course she wished that deep inside he did, what girl in the world didn't want to date Troy Bolton.

Troy knew without a doubt that after this night he didn't want to be just friends with her anymore. Yeah this was only their third "meeting" but who gave a shit. He was intrigued by this girl. He wanted her all of her, body, mind, and soul. She had captured his eyes and he was starting to feel that now she was capturing his heart without her even knowing it. That was one thing that he liked about he. She seemed genially interested in him. She hadn't asked one question about his money or his career or anything like that. Her questions were considered to personal to him but to the person looking in on them they would consider it silly questions like what's your favorite color, candy bar, what's the nastiest food you've ever taste, have you almost drowned before. What was your most embarrassing moment in school, silly little things like that? He could feel that she was hiding something or apprehensive about something. He would figure it out soon. He just needed for her to feel like he was someone he could trust. Yes, it would take time…but he was going to take as much time as possible to get Gabrielle Montez. Besides who wouldn't want to get to know someone who ignored them the first time they met.

He looked away from her smiling as he took another bite of his food. His smiled turned into a loud laugh. Gabriella looked at him as though he was crazy.

"What are you laughing about?" she asked him

Troy pointed up to the balcony and they both shared a laugh as they watched Chad throw burnt coal stakes over the security fence into another yard, mumbling all the while.

**A/N: okay guys if there are any grammar or spelling issues...sorry....i tried to check over it but...somethings might have slipped by....so I need some more reviews in order to keep going and creating drama cause if I feel like you guys are liking the story than…yeah I'll continue to write, though I am going to finish with the people that actually review because I know that they like it. It would just be really encouraging to get some more….so please take like 10 seconds and review for me….yeah I know desperate but oh well…**


	6. Folly Beach

**A/N: Hey guys sorry this is like a day late I try to upload every Friday and today's Saturday…hope everyone had a great thankzgivin…mine was alright went shopping on Friday…let me just say…wow…people are dangerous and I was listening on the news how some guy was killed at a wal-mart because people wanted to shop so bad…it was crazy…but anyways here's the next chapter. Thankz for the reviews that I got, they all made me smile so thankz again. I'm gonna give a shout out to the reviews and if I missed I pretend like your name is in that list also….**

**SHOUTOUTS!:::::ileannakiloves.****.****; ****Zanessa ;Whorex3****; ****Zanessafan1****; ****hula4u**** ;****YoungLoveTG**** ;****mummy b****; ****nessjas****; ****kaycee96****; ****LaurFoSho****; ****zanessafan4ever****; ****SassyBR****; ****casstudies****; ****Pineapple Princess Tiki****; ****Saritusx3****; ****vanilla902****; ****MUW D'Bellegirl****; ****HsMfreak-ZnV****; ****;****MizWildthing****; ****lsr188****; ****zac4ever**

Chapter 6

A week and a half of nothing but late night talk on the telephone was not enough for Troy Bolton. Though of course he hadn't blamed her for the…lack of physical communication if you wanted to call it that. He had been at fault also. The shooting of the movie was quickly approaching and Troy with the rest of his cast members were busy practicing and reading lines together. Of course this wasn't official practicing but with Kenny emailing them every day about taking responsibility and knowing the lines before they were actually suppose to learn them, it had urged the group to start learning them. There were no songs giving to the cast yet so they still had to learn those as well as dance routines. Troy had been a little grouchy when he figured that this was going to take up most his time. Time that couldn't be spent with Gabriella. Time that would be spent away from her.

Of course that wasn't the only thing that kept him occupied. Sharpay was a big problem. As much as he loved the girl like his sister she was really starting to get on his nerves. She called almost every day and almost every hour that they weren't together seeing if Gabriella was with him. He had stared at her when they were reading their scripts together. Did she like him like that? He didn't think that she did. They had been friends for so long that a romantic relationship had never crossed either of their minds….well at least not Troy's. He had even tried to talk to her and asked her why she hated Gabriella so much. Sharpay's response what that she didn't not like Gabriella…she just didn't care for her. Wasn't that the same thing? Troy had already had to deal with Sharpay when he was dating Kathleen but that didn't bother him so much mostly because she was right about most of the things that she did say but with Gabriella….he really wanted to smack that lip glossed face of hers.

Troy eyes glared over the television. He grimaced lightly as his fingers on the controls continued to press random buttons. He bit his bottom lips pressed on particular button that made the little man on the screen jump and shoot a basketball in the air. He smiled and looked over at Chad who shook his head, his fingers pressing random buttons also. Troy's eyes glanced up at the clock quickly to look at the time. 9:20. She was in school right now and he would have to wait hours to even attempt at calling her. After their little party he had been calling her every day. Most of the times she wouldn't pick up and he would have to leave a voicemail. He had started out by calling her at least four times after she got out of school and then gradually reduced down to once after school. He didn't want to seem desperate or anything. Though she had always called back later that night. Sometimes it was around eight or nine other times it was around eleven or twelve. He figured that she either had chores or homework that had to be home and simply wasn't able to talk on the phone until then.

"Hell yeah." He head Chad say. Troy's eyes focused back on the television and he looked at the score. Chad and made 8 points while he was off daydreaming.

"What are you thinking about?" Chad asked him his eyes still on the game.

Troy shook his head and didn't answer.

"Are you thinking about the lovely Gabriella." He asked chuckling a little.

Troy just sighed.

"You know I saw her yesterday."

Troy looked at him the game forgotten. "Where? Where did you see her?"

"Oh so now you want to talk to me."

"Where did you see her Chad?"

Chad laughed and shook his head. "Another two points." He glanced at Troy. "Nowhere."

Troy threw the control to the floor and sat back into the couch throwing one arm over his eyes.

"What's wrong dude." Chad asked setting his controller on the table that sat in front of the two guys.

"Nothing. Its just that two months are dwindling closer and closer to the end and I'm going to have to leave and—"

"Dude did you just use the word dwindling."

Troy lifted his arm and glared at Chad before replacing it.

"Sorry. Well maybe she could come visit you while we're shooting. You know we each have a suite, which is basically an apartment. She could stay with you."

Troy sighed. "Dude she goes to school, and I doubt that her parents are going to be so kind as to let their teenage daughter travel across the country to see a teenage boy."

"Hey I was just suggesting ideas."

Troy said nothing but sighed. "I know I sound like a chick but I'm really going to miss her."

"Yeah you do sound like a chick."

"I mean what if she forgets about me and likes some other dude. What if I call her she's like Troy Bolton who?"

"What if who forgets you?"

Troy felt his heart drop as he heard the voice behind him. He didn't lift his arm but just stayed there frozen, hoping and praying that if he didn't make any sudden movements maybe she would go away.

"What are you doing here?" Chad asked.

"Oh I met Taylor at the health food store and she invited me over."

"I did?" Taylor asked with one raised eyebrow.

Troy lifted his arm finally knowing that she probably wasn't going to go away. His head was tilted on the couch so that he looked straight up at the ceiling. Suddenly a large pair of green eyes and a mess of light brown hair filled his view. He jumped slightly and stood up from the couch to look at his ex-girlfriend. She stood there with a pair of tight dark jeans on with a low cut white blouse. She looked even more beautiful than he had remembered. She smiled at him and Troy smiled tightly back to her. They hadn't talked since that day that she had broken up with him…or had he broken up with her…he couldn't remember.

"Of course you did. You said you and the gang were learning lines and the only reason I wasn't invited was because I was out of town."

"Yeah but that didn't mean I invited you over now. You invited yourself---"Taylor started.

"No come on sweetheart. You don't have to lie. I know you just wanted me to come over because Troy was here."

Troy watched as Taylor gasped she had begun to glare at Kathleen and Chad hurried around the couch to where his girlfriend was.

"Now listen here, you two-faced diva whor---"she started but Chad stopped her.

"Taylor! I uh…need help in the kitchen…with steaks…ya know I can't cook them work a shit." He steered Taylor from their living room and into the kitchen. Taylor was still glaring at Kathleen mumbling to Chad until they were gone.

Troy sighed and shook his head at Kathleen. Of course he knew that she had probably invited herself and had kinda tricked Taylor letting her in the house. How? Troy didn't have an answer because he knew that Taylor couldn't stand Kathleen as much as Sharpay couldn't.

"What are you doing here?" Troy asked repeating Chad's question hoping to get a truthful answer this time.

"I want to see you." She said smiling softly.

Troy nodded his head and looked at the couch that was still between him. "Why? I mean you did break up with me."

She laughed. "I broke up with you. I believe it was you who said if I was going to act all bitchy about something that didn't even happen then maybe we should break up"

"That was out of anger. I didn't mean it."

She cocked one eyebrow. "So we're not broken up."

Troy cursed himself. He rolled his eyes. "Of course we are."

She laughed "Well I thought so, but I have news for you."

"Really? What kinda news."

He watched as she walked around the couch and stood right in front of him. He didn't move an inch as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I decided to forgive you, and I want you back."

A smiled formed on his face and he shook his head disbelievingly as he placed his hands on her waste. "You want me back? For real? Oh I'm so honored." He said sarcastically.

And of course she didn't hear the sarcastic voice. "Oh baby. You should feel honored, and I—"

Troy pushed her gently away from him. "I was being sarcastic Kathleen. "

She frowned and crossed her arm giving him a once over look. "Are you saying you don't want to be with me?"

"Uhh…yeah."

She started laughing putting a hand to her head as though she couldn't believe it. "Troy. You and I were meant to be together. I mean we dated for like two years. Everyone knows us as a couple. That's all they've ever known us as. You can't just not want to be with me anymore. There too much history."

Troy shrugged his shoulders. "I just don't like you that way anymore." He sighed. "Look let's just concentrate on the movie and getting that done okay."

She sneered at him shaking her head. "No. I love you. I love you more than anything. I'm not letting you get away from me. We belong together." She said walking to him again running her fingers down his covered chest.

Troy slapped a hand over hers. "No, we don't."

He moved away from her and started walking towards the kitchen to where Chad and Taylor was. He didn't think that she would be right behind him and when she placed a hand on his shoulder to draw him back and pushing him against the wall….it surprised him. Then again he was caught off guard. He exhaled heavily as she placed her lips on his. Just as soft as always, just as seductive. He felt her run her hands under his shirt playing with his pecks, and Troy trembled slightly. His pecks were his "spot" and she knew that. Her hands the traveled down to his pants rubbing his member gently through his jeans. Of course Troy's body responded to it, though his mind kept telling it to stop. He was a man after all. Though he took back control of his body and just as her fingers slipped into the zipper part of his jeans and reached his boxers he pushed her away.

"What the hell are you doing?" he whispered fiercely to her. He looked towards the kitchen to see if Chad or Taylor had seen or heard anything.

"What? You wanted it. I know you did." She walked back to him. "I could feel how much you wanted me." She said glancing down at his semi erection.

"I don't want you." He said to her.

"Yeah…okay." She smiled. "Don't you see Troy, this means you still have feelings for me."

"No this means that my body reacts to a female touching my dick. That's all." He growled at her. "Look your making this impossible. We still have to work together and I'd rather not have to work with someone that I'm angry with, okay."

Her lips pouted and she nodded slowly. "Okay. I understand, you need more time to think about us."

"There is no us." Troy said rolling his eyes. When will she get it through her head?

"Of course there is silly. We're Troy and Kathleen. We're Troyleen."

She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, which Troy tried to recoil from before making her way towards the front door. Troy watched as she turned around and waved at her. He wiped his cheek and ran his hands through his hair. What the hell was wrong with that girl? She just couldn't get the whole we're not together thing through her fucking hard ass head. He grimaced lightly as he thought about Gabriella. Yeah they weren't officially dating or anything like that, but he knew that she would still be upset if she ever found about this little meeting that he had with Kathleen. He had thought about telling Kathleen about her but that would just be too much…Kathleen would have hunted her down and this wasn't the time or place to do that.

"Wow. What the hell was that?"

Troy turned around and saw Chad standing there with huge eyes and an open mouth. Troy groaned and walked passed him into the kitchen.

* * *

Soft mocha eyes slowly opened as they fell on a blank white door. She sighed heavily moving her feet back and forth on her mattress. She turned her body so that her back on flat on the mattress and she looked up at the ceiling. A small smile formed on her pink lips. Of course the first thing that she thought of in the morning when she woke was the incredible Troy Bolton. Which just made sense since he was the last thing she thought about before she went to bed because he was the last one he had always talked to. Though it had been about a week and a half since they actually seen each other, talking on the phone had been very informative also. She knew deep within her that she was getting to know him personally on a deeper level than she would have never thought of. And she knew that he was getting to know her as well. Though he didn't know her as well as she knew he thought he was. There was no way that she would ever tell him about her "family life." About her father. No…that was still out of the question. She had usually just spoke with him at night when her father was too busy to deal with her or when he was sleep. She didn't want to start talking to him throughout the day because if she did then…her father would know something was up because of how she would probably react. So she had shut off her phone until night when she could talk to Troy.

She made her way out of the bed her sweat pants and long sleeve shirt hanging baggily off of her. She walked towards the kitchen and stumbled light as she realized who was there. She held herself and pressed her lips together. Wasn't he suppose to be at work or selling drugs, or buying them or something. By now he usually was. She licked her dry lips as he looked at her and smiled before taking a sip of whatever it was that was in his coffee cup.

"Sweetheart. Morning." He said.

"Morning dad." She said still standing there. She didn't know if she should do the usually and get her cereal or what.

"What's wrong? Do you usually just stand there?" he asked with a grin.

"Umm…no, of course not." She made her way around the kitchen making herself a cold bowl of cereal, feeling his eyes on her the whole time. She sat down at the table and kept her eyes on her food. Felt him brush past her and sit right next to her. She sighed and looked up taking a bit of her food.

"Good?" he asked.

She nodded her head and watched as he took another sip of whatever.

"You need to come home right after school today okay sweetheart."

Gabriella's spoon fell out of her hand and it feel with a splash in her bowl making droplets of milk come out. She looked at him and noticed a narrowing of his eyes. Her eyes widen just a bit.

"Sorry dad." She said wiping it up with her hands. "Umm…it's not…what you want me to do last time is it?" she whispered.

She watched as he curled his lip before smiling tightly. He shook his head. "Of course not honey." He said, "But I am going to have card game later on this evening and we need some food…you know you can make something homemade that me and the guys might like."

She frowned slightly and nodded her head. "Okay."

"I'm going to leave you some money to go to the store, make sure to get a case of beer, you know the kinda daddy likes."

"Beer? Dad I'm underage I just can't go—"

"You did it before!" he seethed banging his cup on the table making her jump. She nodded her head. She had done it before but that was because the cashier was someone around her age and let her get away with it.

"Okay. I'll get it. Anything else." She said trying to keep the sarcastic tone out of her voice. He shook his head before leaning towards her and kissing her softly on the cheek.

"Good girl."

Gabriella smiled tightly and watched as he got and made his way out of the house, leaving his cup there. She sighed deeply and pushed her cereal back. Great so now she would have to deal with her father friends. She knew that this night was going to be uncomfortable. She stood up and made her way to her room to get ready for another day at high school.

&&&

Once again like every other day, she got off the bus from another long and somewhat, but safe day at school, only this time when she got off the bus she got off at a grocery store. She knew that it wouldn't take her long to get the food. She moved up and down the aisle getting a verity of food that she knew that her father and his friends would like. She got some Velveeta cheese and some veggies to make some dip, a bag of tortilla chips, along with some hamburger meat and bbq sauce to make meatballs. She also got some cookies. She didn't really know what else to get so she got a pizza also. After getting the supplies she made her way to the alcohol section. Her eyes scanned the aisle seeing only one person there. She then looked at the verity of beverages looking for the one that her father preferred. She bit her lip and sighed.

"Is everything okay?"

She jumped and looked to her side as she saw the man stand next to her holding a case of Budweiser. He was a good looking man. Obviously older than she was since he was buying beer. His hand dark shaggy hair with the bright green eyes. He was taller than her and very built. She nodded her head and stayed quiet.

"Do you need any help figuring out what to get." He asked with a smile. "You seem like you're a newbie at this."

She said nothing but instead licked her lips and shrugged her shoulders.

"Hmmm....so when did you turn twenty-one."

Gabriella shifted her feet and sighed. It wasn't that she didn't feel comfortable around this guy it was just….well yeah she felt uncomfortable. First of all she hated when a strangers just started talking to her. And second of all he wasn't Troy besides she knew what he was trying to do.

"I think you should—"

"Look, I'm not trying to be rude or anything, But I know what I want." She said surprising herself that she said it so strongly. She sighed and grabbed a case of Corona before making her way down the aisle. She knew the guy was staring at her. She ignored him and made her way to the checkout line. She was thankful that there wasn't a long line and when it was her turn she placed her items up so the cashier could ring them up. Her heart was beating quickly as the girl got closer to the beer. She squeezed her hands together praying to god to just let the girl ring it up without a problem. Of course nothing was easy in Gabriella's world.

"Umm…can I see some id." The girl said popping her gum looking Gabriella up and down.

Gabriella swallowed tightly and smiled at the girl the best she could. "ID? Umm…well…see…I…"

The girl rolled her eyes and grabbed the case of beer getting ready to put it away but a voice stopped her.

"There you go sweetie. I was wondering where you went with the rest of the food. Here add this to it."

Gabriella turned around and looked at the stranger that she had just blown off. Her mouth hung open just bit as she looked at him with wide eyes making sure the cashier didn't see her face.

"She's with you?" the girl said. "Well can I see some ID from you?" she asked with an attitude.

The guy nodded and smiled down at Gabriella. She was speechless as she watched him pay for "their" groceries . He grabbed both of their bags and Gabriella made her way to follow him out the store.

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"You looked like you needed help, miss. Underage drinker." He chuckled.

They stopped outside of the store and he looked down at her with a smirk on his face. She didn't smile back up at him. She licked her dry lips and held out her hand.

"Can I get my stuff please?"

"Your stuff?" he laughed. "I do believe that this is mine. I did pay for it you know."

"Without my permission." She narrowed her eyes at him before stepping towards him and snatching her bags out of his hands.

"So what's your name?"

Gabriella gasped at him shaking her head. Was he really trying to hit on her? Why? Should she be excited that a guy was trying to 'holla' at her? No. She didn't feel excited at all. One because she didn't know this guy at all and two he was Troy. The thought of Troy almost brought a smile to her lips but she didn't want this guy to think that she was smiling because of him. No, she wouldn't give this guy anything to be interested in because she just wasn't….interested.

"I'm not telling you." She said before turning around and making her way quickly to the to the bus stop before he could catch her. She guessed he guessed where he was going because he called out to her.

"You know I can take you home!"

She ignored him and kept walking. She finally reached the bus stop and sat on the bench waiting for the bus to arrive, grocery bags surrounding her. She looked back to see the guy still standing there. He had a smile on his full lips and he waved at her. Well at least she got to keep the money her father gave her. Gabriella turned back around and crossed her arms. She told her mind to think of another guy. Someone more handsome, more… Troy Bolton. She actually smiled this time as the bus pulled up completely forgetting about the guy that was now nowhere to be found.

&&&

She had managed so far to get everything right. Her father liked her choice of food and beer and, acknowledged that their house looked clean. Of course she had to clean before her father's friends came over. That was an automatic. She was leaning on the kitchen counter right next to the stove her hands pushing buttons on her phone. She saw that she had one voice message and she knew that it could be from no one else but Troy. He was the only one with her number. She smiled and quickly pressed the number one holding it for a second before putting in her passcode and brought the phone to her ear. She pressed one twice and started to listen to the message.

"hey Gabi, Troy here…yeah I know you're probably busy or something you know but I just want to call and—"

"Gabriella!"

Gabriella closed the phone quickly and turned around, her hands behind her back that held the phone tightly. She looked at her father and smiled tightly hoping he didn't see anything.

"Yeah Dad."

"Where's the pizza. We've been waiting girl." He said his eyes narrowing at her as though she had done something…which she had.

"Umm…I was just getting ready to get it out of the oven." She said. "I'll be there in a few second with it."

Her father sneered at her balling his fist before walking out of the kitchen and back into the living room where they were playing poker. She sighed heavily before cutting off the phone and placing it in her front pocket. She needed to be more careful. She got the pizza out of the oven slicing it so that her father of course had the biggest piece. She carried the pizza into the living room to where her father and his friends were sitting at a poker table. She went around the table letting the men grab a slice. They were all her father's age. Not the most attractive people ever no. They all looked very sickly like…well like they were on drugs which they probably were. She cringed lightly and jumped as she felt a hand rubbing the inside of her thigh. She looked to her right to see a man smiling up at her, and she tried hard to roll her eyes. She was just about to leave when the man suddenly held on to her wrist

"Let me go." She said softly.

The man said nothing by instead pulled her to him so roughly that she fell on his lap. She tried to push herself up but he held her down. She cringed.

"Please…" she whispered. She looked over at her father. "Dad…"

"Oh shut up Gabriella…you're just sitting on him" he said gruffly looking at his cards. "It's not like your fucking him."

All the guys at the table besides her father looked at her and smiled that sick smile.

"Just let Dan hold you for a moment. It won't hurt."

Gabriella sighed and frowned as the guy wrapped his arm around her waist and was softly playing with her shirt his hand sometimes touching her bare skin. She cringed every time she felt his slimy skin. She jumped slightly as she felt his hips lift up and down and she heaved as she could feel the man getting hard beneath her. She took a deep breath.

"I really need to...do homework."

"Homework and wait sweetie." Dan said, "You're my lucky charm, you're going to stay here all night."

Gabriella was about to say something else until she caught the eye of her father who had his eyes narrowed at her. She let out a defeated sighed and sat there on Dan's lap while they finished their poker game.

* * *

There she was standing right in front of her house like always. Troy smiled as his eyes sat on the beautiful girl. He pulled his truck up to the curve and before he could open the door she hopped in smiling softly at him. He could tell that she was feeling a bit more comfortable with him. When she had called him that night before and asked if they could hang out he was more than ecstatic, and made plans right away. He looked over at her and she had on a pair of jeans with pink zipped up jacket that had those girly glittery stuff on it. Her hair was down and wild looking and it liked it like that. She seemed to be out of breath as though she had ran a marathon or something but he put that in the back of his mind.

They greeted each other both of their eyes lingering one the other for far too long before Troy pulled away from her house.

"So, where are we going?" She asked with a little smirk on her face. She was right arm was leaning against the door holding up her head as she spoke to him.

"I'm going to take you somewhere special." He said

"Special? Like a restaurant? Cause I'm not really dressed up…" she said getting ready to freak out.

"No no, calm down. "He laughed. "I'm taking you to Folly."

"Folly? I've never been there before. I heard it's beautiful."

"You've never been to Folly? Where have you been girl?" He laughed and she laughed also though it was kinda humorless.

She had commanded herself to call him the night before to see if he wanted to hang out. Yes it was a risk to her because what if he didn't want to. Those thoughts were still in her head. When he had said that he would have loved too she had the biggest smile on her face that wouldn't go off even when she went to sleep. She had told her father that the school were having standardizing test after school ended for the upperclassman and she might not be home late. Of course he said nothing about it. He wanted to keep her schooling as normal as possible unless someone started to suspect something.

"You'll love it there. It's beautiful."

They continue to drive talking every now and again, though there were those brief periods where it was the awkward silence where each was thinking to themselves, thinking of something to say without making the other person uncomfortable. They each considered telling the other person their run-ins with the opposite sex but…decided that they didn't want to jeopardize anything….if there was anything that was going on here.

Troy parked his truck on a high hill before telling Gabriella to stay in the car. She watched as he walked around and opened the door for her. He smiled down at her as she landed.

"Man you're so short." He said laughing.

"Man you're so tall…giant." She said pushing him slight.

He looked at her feet and frowned a little as the thought. He suddenly bent down and took off his shoes and socks throwing them in the back of his truck.

"What are you doing?" she asked him with wide eyes.

"Take off your shoes. It'll be easier to walk in the sand that way." He said.

She looked at him with a smirk and shrugged her shoulder copying him by throwing her flip flops in the back of his truck. Troy suddenly grabbed her hand and they made their way down the soft slop of the sandy hill. The wind blew steady and whipped Gabriella's hair around and around. She held on tightly to Troy's hand until they reached the bottom. Her eyes scanned the grounds and she sighed. It was absolutely beautiful. The white sand that stretched for miles down the cost looked so pure it was as though diamonds were placed in each grain. The ocean while not blue was a light gray with soft waves hitting the shore line. It was an overcast day but still pretty warm. Her feet dug into the soft sand every time they took a step and she curled up her toes to feel it more.

"Do you like it?" Troy asked looking at her as she watched the scene of the beach.

"I love it. It's absolutely breathtaking."

"You're absolutely breathing." He said without thinking. She looked at him her eyes wide and he blushed, pressing his lips together tightly. He let out a hard laugh, "That sounded like something from a movie huh?'' he said.

"Kinda." She whispered. He sat down pulling her down next to him. He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a hat and a pair of sunglasses. Yes it was overcast but you could never be too careful with the paps. If they saw two people sitting on the beach hopefully they would see just that…two people.

"I wonder where everyone is." She asked drawing her knees up to her chest.

"Probably down further on the beach…this is somewhat a secluded area."

Troy leaned back his hands holding him up as he looked at the beautiful creature that was beside him. His eyes scanned the back of her. Her hair was still flying around because of the wind. There was so much of it and Troy wanted to bury his hands in its masses. She had small shoulders as well as a small frame. She looked to be even a little too small but Troy didn't mind. He scooted closer to her wanting to let her know that he was there. She looked over at him and smiled softly.

Gabriella at that moment was thanking God or whoever made this happen. She didn't question why she was there, with Troy Bolton out of all people. She didn't worry about home and her father. She was content at that moment, and she was happy. She could feel his eyes on her and she turned her head to him. He had scooted closer and she didn't notice. She looked in his eyes and they seemed even more electric blue than ever. She could feel her heart picking up extra beats and her hands became clammy.

"Do you know that you are the most beautiful girl I've ever set eyes on?" He whispered to her.

Gabriella frowned and looked away from him. He could tell that she didn't believe it. He sighed. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable but he wanted her to know how he felt and what he wanted between them. He sat up next to her.

"You are Gabi."

"You've been all around the world Troy. I'm sure is at least some one more beautiful then me…well a lot of someone's…"

He shook his head. She still didn't look at him and he took his glasses off and bought his hand to her face making her look at him. He looked into her dark eyes, and smiled slightly. God they were beautiful. They were a mixture of chocolate and mocha, and hazel…he didn't know how to describe it. "You are beautiful and not just appearance wise. You have a good heart, a good soul." He pushed some of her hair back out of her face as the wind kept blocking his view. His hand was still holding her small face as he leaned in to her.

Gabriella of course didn't believe him. She was beautiful? Yeah right. But he had said it, and there was that one little part of her that believed it. He continued with his little speech. A good heart and soul...well if he just knew the real her he wouldn't think that. Would he? Her heart almost jumped out of her chest as she saw his lips near her face. It was beating so hard that it actually hurt. Her eyes started to close on their own accord and she slightly shook her head, but he didn't stop.

His lips met hers with a soft touch. They were cool and soft and…perfect. He held them there for a few seconds before he moved them against his lips. She just sat there still…she didn't move but her eyes were closed and she enjoyed the touch of them. She could feel his breath every time he opened his lips a little more onto hers. On their own accord her lips puckered slightly and pressed into his. She could feel the smile that he gave and he let out a sigh. She felt his hand tight somewhat on her face and bought her a bit closer to her, yet his mouth continued to kiss her softly.

Troy had never felt this way before. Yes he hadn't really kissed her, open mouth and all but just this bit…it was driving him crazy. Her full lips were so soft like silk. She her lips tasted of mint, as though chewing winterfresh or something. When he felt her respond he couldn't keep the smile off his face. He had thought at first that she didn't want it she hadn't moved but now…he knew that she wanted it just as much as he did. His hands made it to her hair where he touched his scalp slightly. Her hair was too soft as tough it was made of the silky cotton. His lips pressed harder into hers and he let his tongue dart out and touch her lips. He could feel her jump a little but he held her still his lips tracing her bottom lip. He was just about to enter her mouth with his tongue when he was suddenly pushed away from her.

He felt like he had just crashed…that the high that he was on was just swiped off underneath his feet without any warning. Both of them were breathing harshly trying to catch their breath. It wasn't a make out session by no means but it felt like one.

"What are you doing?" she said to him scooting away from him slightly.

"What do you mean what am I doing? I was kissing you."

She shook her head and Troy frowned at her. "Did I go too far or something?"

"I can't kiss you." She said not looking at him but looked at the sand as though he wasn't there. "It's not right. I'm not right."

"What do you mean you're not right? Of course you are. I've never felt this way about anyone…and in this amount of time." Troy sighed swallowing hard as he continued to look at her.

"No. Someone like you can never feel for someone like me."

"Someone like you? What the hell are you talking about Gabi?"

"Don't call me that." She snapped at him her eyes suddenly turned on him. She looked at him and frowned as he saw the confusion on his face. It did hurt that she was making him feel that way but there was no way. She wasn't worth anything to him or no one else…no one but her father. Of course she had no idea where these thoughts were coming from and right now she didn't care. Her father had warned her to stay away from boys and that something bad would happen to her if she didn't. Besides no one would ever want her beside's him…yes…that's what he said and what he said was true. It was always true. Everytime he said he was going to do something he did it. No matter what it was. She closed her eyes for a second. She was scared. Scared of a lot of things…and confused. Here she was told that no one would ever want here and now here she was letting Troy kiss her. She couldn't figure her own feelings out sometimes. She could be strong towards a stranger by telling them off but to a guy that she liked back…that was something else.

"I'm sorry." He said still looking at her. "Is there something I can do…" he shrugged his shoulder really not knowing what else to say. He was shocked that she had suddenly turned so…cold? Was that the word?

"Yeah you can take me home." She said standing up. Troy tried to grab hold of her arm but she was too quick and made her way back up to the truck.

"Gabriella! Wait a second what the hell is wrong." He yelled after her running back to the truck also. She was standing at the passenger side waiting to be let in but Troy wasn't going to let her in until he got some answers. "One minute you're kissing me and the next you're saying shit that's just out of the fucking blue. What the hell is wrong with you?"

He watched as she pressed her back against the passenger door and shook her head quickly. He frowned at her. What the hell was she doing?

"I'm sorry, Troy." She whispered. "I won't do it again. I promise just don't…."

"Don't what." He urged.

Gabriella bit her lip hard. Was she scared of him? Hell yeah she was especially since he was yelling at her…what if he hit her…she doubt that it would hurt that bad…she had tough skin after all the stuff she went through but still it was the principal…what if he did hit her. She probably deserved it anyways she was kissing him then turned all crazy like.

"I'm sorry." She said again.

Troy crossed his arms in front of her and narrowed his eyes. He wasn't narrowing his eyes because he was angry no he was trying to figure out what was up with her. He sighed and looked up at the sky thinking about what to do.

"I like you Gabriella." He said up to the clouds. "I mean I really like you, not just as a friend and I want us to at least try to be…something." He said finally looking at her. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open just a bit. He wanted to kiss that mouth but he restrained himself. "I don't know what just happened but can't we at least…try."

She nodded her head quickly her back still against the truck. He tilted his head looking at her questionably. She was acting nervous as though something would happen if she didn't say yes.

"I don't want to force you or anything like that." He said.

She shook her head. "No…no…you want to try..I…I can try Troy." She said smiling tightly at him.

Troy nodded his head once before walking towards her. He put his hands near her waste and Gabriella was about to have a freaking heart attack. She swallowed tightly and resisted the urge to cringe before she heard the door unlock and Troy had pulled it open pushing her away. He held the door open for her with a small smile. Gabriella smiled back before getting into the car. This was all her fault. She should just have continued kissing him and everything would have been okay. But she just couldn't get the feeling that she wasn't worth it to him or anyone but her father.

**A/N: Okay I hope you liked this chapter and please review…I love reviews and it's the only thing that keeps me writing…**


	7. McDonalds or Burger King?

**A/N: I just want to thank the few that actually reviewed for my last chapter. Even though it wasn't a lot…it still meant a lot to me, you have no idea…but then I'm sure many people might not have read the last chapter because I had just put it up. But here I am updating again. I have no more school until the 5****th**** of January soo…hopefully I'll write more.**

**I know a lot of you have been asking about Sharpay…don't worry she'll be making more appearance and you'll find out why she doesn't like Gabriella when she's this supposedly wonderful person. Oh and I know some commented on Gabi's dad…yeah I hate him too…he's a bastard but I need him like this…oh and some of you wonder if Troy will help Gabi out of this situation…maybe he will…maybe he won't…haha**

**I'm pretty surprised that no one asked about the one guy in the previous chapter when Gabi went shopping…he'll be making another appearance soon also. Okay on with the story.**

* * *

Chapter 7

Gabriella closed her cell phone and leaned against the wall. She was sitting on her mattress her knees drawn up and she closed her eyes. The past three days had been hell. She thought that she was literally going to die emotionally. The feelings that she had in her wanted to make her explode. She didn't know how to handle anything and because she was losing control of her emotions…she had to pay for it. She had been so preoccupied with what had happened between her and Troy that she had been making mistakes around her father. Mistakes that she should have known not to make. When they were eating dinner one night she hadn't answer a question he had asked her. She had been once again thinking, and he snapped her out of it by slapping her so hard that she fell out of her seat. She then had accidently burnt the chicken that she had been making for dinner making the house smell like burnt popcorn for some reason. She had tried her best to get the smell out of the house before he came home but proved impossible. He had came on and actually made her eat the burnt chicken. It was disgusting but she did deserve it. She should have been paying attention. Even though he had punished her she still did learn her lesson because still her thoughts were on Troy.

She felt like spattered paint. She was everywhere. She was feeling as though that shouldn't be with Troy because of what she was…what she is. She was nothing but a play thing. Right? She was the kind of person who people didn't notice that people didn't care about. She had to live like this day after day after day and had to hear this day after day that she was the girl where no one would really care about; she was the girl that was used and discarded. That the only person that would ever care about her is her father. Then she had the feelings where she actually liked that Troy Bolton wanted to be with her. There was the side where she was giddy that his lips touched hers. She was that silly little girl whose dream came true. There was a bit of her that wanted to be happy with Troy that wanted to have a relationship with him like normal girls had with their boyfriends. There was a part of her that wanted to tell him the truth so that he could save her. Could he save her? Did she even really want to be saved? If he did tell her would he be angry at her? Yeah she felt like spattered paint that no one wanted.

She opened her eyes and looked at the phone again. She had just listened to the messages and new she was going to have to meet him today or she would have a lot to explain. She pushed her hair back holding her hands there for a while as she stood up. She paced her room; she knew that she had hurt Troy somehow. That she had made him mad and she hated making people made because she hated the consequences. She just couldn't help but draw away from him because first…he probably just wanted to use her right? And second…well her father's voice kept echoing in her head.

She stopped pacing and slipped on the same flip flops that she always wore. She grabbed her book bag that was in her closet before making her way out of her bedroom. She walked into the living room and saw her father sitting there with a beer watching television. She said nothing and waited for him to address her which he did a few minutes later.

"What the hell do you want?" he said not taking his eyes from the television.

"I need to go to the library for this research project I have due in history. Can I go?" she asked knowing that once again if it had anything to do with school he wouldn't interfere.

"Hmm…when is it due?" he asked her as though he really cared.

"In two days." She lied.

He nodded his head. "Do a good job."

"I will and thank you." She said meekly before turning around. She stopped suddenly as she felt something hit her on the head. She heard the object hit the floor and she turned around to see what it was. She sighed as she looked at the beer can laying there some of its contents spilling out.

''Throw that away from me won't ya." Her father said laughing.

She said nothing and just picked up the can tossing it into the trashcan that was in the kitchen before she made her way out the front door.

Troy frowned as he once again like so many times pulled up to the curb to here the mocha eyed girl that was standing at the curb. She had on a hoodie with a pair of sweat pants. She looked very comfortable and Troy was surprised that she wasn't all glammed up like the girls he knew. He didn't bother trying to get out to open the door for her because he knew that she would just hop in. She threw the book bag that she had around her shoulders into the back of the truck and did exactly that. Ever since that day there had been tension between them…well he didn't know if he called it tension because they hadn't talked since that day. He had dropped her off and they said goodbye on friendly terms and since then he hadn't heard from her and it was hell for him. He called constantly hoping she would pick up the phone but she never picked up. He left message on her voicemail but she never returned them. So he got fed up with her ignoring him and decided that he was going to come and see her no matter what. He had left that on a message and he guessed that she took it seriously since she was standing in her same spot as always.

He hated that damn curb. He wanted to walk to her house and knock on the door. Introduce himself to her parents and take her out on a real date, but she told him that her father wouldn't hear of his little princess going out with a boy. He guess that that's was how all father's were towards their daughter though.

"Hey Gabriella." He said as she got in.

She smiled at him as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Hey."

He pulled off. He didn't know where he was going to go but they had to talk, he had to make sure that they were alright because the feelings that he was getting from her was anything but.

"You sounded urgent on the phone." She said.

"Yeah well, you didn't return any of my calls. Why?" he said looking at the road.

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders. What was she suppose to say…oh well I didn't call you because I'm afraid my father was going to find out and beat me to death not to mention you were mad also and who would have know what you would do…no she couldn't say that.

"Well I've been kinda concerned every since that day." He said, "And I wanna talk about it."

"Why?" she asked crossing her arms looking out the window. "Why do you wanna talk Troy? We fixed everything. We were going to try us out right?"

"Right but you didn't seem accepting of it."

"I told you I did."

"Yeah but you didn't mean it."

"Yes I did."

"No you did!" he almost yelled. He looked over at her and noticed that she had cringed against the door. He sighed and gave her a questioning look. "What's wrong?"

"Umm…nothing….nothing…I…"

"See this is what I mean." He said in a calming voice.

They were quiet in the truck for a while and Troy pulled over in a parking lot. He now really didn't care where they talked he just wanted to talk. He pulled up in a shopping center that had a Toys'R'Us, a Pet Smarts, and a Best Buy. He parked the truck far away from the stores and cut it off.

"Why are we here?" she asked.

"I wanna talk." He said.

"About what?"

Troy turned to look at her. "Something happened after I kissed you. What was running through your mind when you pulled back?"

Gabriella scoffed and shook her head. "Troy do we have to…"

"Yes…if we want to try and make this work…whatever we have work…we need to talk. Now answer the question."

Gabriella continued to look out the window trying to think of something to say. She licked her lips. "I guess I just can't believe that you want to be with me."

"Why would you think something like that?" He glad that he was actually getting somewhere.

"I don't know. I guess because I'm not rich and famous…I'm not the most prettiest…I mean we're just not…in the same place. You're a movie star and I'm…a high school student."

Troy reached over and grabbed her hand; he frowned as he saw her jumped and sighed shaking his head. "Just because I'm rich and I'm in movies doesn't mean that I can't have feelings for you. And if it does mean that well…looks like I broke the rules. And I said so once before and I'll say it again, you are beautiful. " He watched as she relaxed some. Her eyes looked down at his hands that were currently intertwining theirs together. "Like I said at the beach, I know we've only met but these last week's…I've felt something that I've never felt before. I know that's weird but it's true. "

Gabriella took her hands from his and closed her eyes taking several deep breaths. She was having that inter-conflict again. Part of herself was telling her to believe him and let herself go. That this is what she needed. This is the thing that she longed for. Someone that actually wanted to be with her…and not just romantic wise…someone who wanted her in his presence. She didn't get that at school and she defiantly didn't get that at home. It was telling her with hell with everything that was wrong in her life and let herself go to this boy.

The other side was telling her that of course he doesn't really want to be with her. He just wanted to use her up and throw her away after he got what he wanted. That she was nothing more than a play thing and if she did take that chance she would regret it and her father would once again be right. She was wanted by no one but himself. He was the one that actually loved her, and what he did to her was just his way of showing his love towards her. Her mind quickly went to a thought about her mother. Another person that had their own way of showing love…right? She shook her head from the thoughts of her mother and opened her eyes and looked at Troy.

He was looking at her with a worried look and she felt even worse. She licked her lips.

"I'm sorry Troy." She whispered to him. "I want to be with you but—"

"But what!" he pressed her lips together tightly taking a deep breath. "What Gabi? Are you still using the I'm famous you're not line. I told you I don't give a fuck about that. "

Gabriella pressed herself against the door again and sighed. "I'm sorry, but that's just how I feel…"

He shook his head and looked at her. He was getting angry. Here he was telling her that he didn't care about if she was rich and famous or not. That he wanted to be with her because she was her and she was completely ignoring it. He let out a deep breath facing the front again. There had to be something else. There just had to be.

"Do you not like me?" he asked her. "Is that it? You just don't want to be with me, and your just too nice to say stay the hell away from me?"

Gabriella immediately shook her head. "No…No that's not it. I do like you…"

"But you don't want to be with me because I'm famous?"

Gabriella pushed her hair behind her hand. Now that she actually heard it that way it did sound kinda silly that she didn't think they would work just because he was famous but that wasn't the only reason. That was just the reason he thought of and she wasn't going to tell him the rest of it.

"Is it something else Gabriella? Something you're not telling?" he asked his head tilted at her but his eyes staring into hers. She made sure not to shift her eyes and looked back at him. She shook her head softly.

"There's nothing else. That's the reason."

Troy gave her a questioning look. Though she didn't act like she was lying and looked him in the eye and she seemed to be telling him the truth…he for some reason didn't believe her. "You know you can tell me anything right? Anything, no matter what it is."

Gabriella swallowed tightly and nodded her head. "There's nothing to tell Troy."

He sighed again and shook his head. "You still don't want to be with me though."

"No…I do want to be with you. I do."

"Then prove it." Troy said with strong emotion. "I don't want to try anymore I want us to actually be."

"Be?" she asked.

"Yes…I want you to be my girlfriend." He said not looking at her. He knew it wasn't the most romantic way of asking a girl to be his but that was what he wanted and he was getting so annoyed at her right now that he wanted her to be with him right now.

"Troy we've only known each other—"

"I don't give a fuck!" he seethed. He looked over at her and calmed down sighing. "Gabrielle I like you so much and I want to be with you. Yeah we might not see each other daily but we know each other. We talk on the phone for hours getting to know each other. It's not like I just saw you and said be my girlfriend. This has been happening for weeks and I want to be with you. Please tell me you want to be with me also."

Gabriella didn't turn away from him. He seemed so determined, so wanting and that should have made her question him negatively but she didn't. She leaned her head back again the window and closed her eyes. Did she want to be his girlfriend? Of course she wanted to. Even after this short period of time of knowing him? She frowned but her answer was yes…she wanted. Would she risk this relationship even though her father was in control of her life? She bit her lip and went with it. Yes…she could. She opened her eyes and sighed heavily a small smile on her face.

"I do want to be with you Troy." She whispered, she reached over and took his hand. "Can we just take it slow?"

Troy felt a smirk on his face and he nodded his head. He had actually thought that that she was going to say no because of the way she acted afterwards. She had stared at her wondering about her actions…why she continued to press herself against the door. Why she was so determined to not want to be with him. When she opened her eyes he knew his answer and he sighed with relief. He nodded his head in answer to her question.

"Of course we can Gabi." He said. He took a firm hold of her arm and pulled her towards him. She was a little resistant but she came.

His face was close to hers and he could feel her sweet trembling breath on his face. He watched her eyes, which we're wide but not with fear but with curiosity. He reached up and touched her soft skin his thumb softly rubbing across her cheek. His eyes scanned her face looking everywhere from her slim brows to her beautiful eyes, to her small nose, and finally to her full lips that were just waiting for him to touch. His thumb made its way to those lips and he touched them soft feeling her tremble again. He looked into her eyes.

"You're not afraid are you?" he whispered.

Gabriella bit the inside of her mouth as she felt his breath on her lips actually going into her own mouth. Was she scared of him? She didn't want to be. She just didn't want him to get what he wanted whether it be a kiss or something more and just toss her to the side. But she knew…somehow she knew that he wouldn't do that.

"No." she whispered back to him.

He leaned even further in his lips drawing closer to his. She closed her eyes…excited and afraid and she knew that he was drawing both of their lips closer together. She suddenly felt a soft pair of lips kissing her cheek. She opened her eyes and tilted her head to the side wondering why his lips didn't touch hers.

Troy smiled at her as he leaned back.

"Good." He said still smiling. He let go of her hand and started up the truck. Gabriella smiled also but it was more like a quizzical smile.

"You uh…you didn't kiss me." she stated.

Troy nodded his head but didn't move the truck. "Yes I did."

"Yeah you did but you lips were…" she took a deep breath. "You kissed me on the check. I thought we were together?"

Troy smirked and nodded his head again. "We are."

"Then—"

"I'm not stupid Gabriella. I know you're not ready for a physically relationship…even if it is just a kiss. But when the time comes when you are." he pulled out of the parking spot. "Then you will kiss me."

Gabriella shook her head and sat back in her seat. "You'll really wait."

"Of course I will…I'll do anything for you…that's part of being in a relationship ya know…doing stuff for the other." He laughed.

Gabriella realized in her seat and looked at him. "So you really want to be with me?" she asked once more just to confirm it.

"I really want to be with you Gabriella Montez. Even if you are a high school student."

&&&

Their first meal together as a couple was none other the fast food. Troy had expressed that he was starving after trying to convince her that he wanted to be with her and she had just rolled her eyes smiling a bit. He had recommended McDonalds, the only fast food restaurant that had the best burgers. When he had said that statement Gabriella had laughed, telling him that it was Burger King who had the best fast food burgers. They had continued this disagreement until the pulled up in the drive thru of a McDonalds. It was a pretty long line and while in that line they had each told each other why the other fast food burgers were not up to par with their chosen fast food burgers.

"McDonalds doesn't but meat on it. There is like nothing there." Gabriella said laughing.

"Of course there is something there let's talk about Burger King! With all its sloppiness and shit. You can't even take a decent bite without lettuce and shit falling on you."

"That's the whole point. McDonalds puts like a squirt of ketchup and mustard on it and bam! There's your three dollar burger."

"Burger King is expensive. Eight dollars for a fucking sandwich. Not the meal…a sandwich!"

"That's because its stack with stuff unlike you precious one slap of dainty meat McDonalds."

Troy laughed and rolled his eyes as they pulled up to the little speaker box and the menu. "We'll go to Burger King next alright."

"It's okay I can handle Mickey D's for one meal." She said shaking her head.

"No. We'll go…maybe you can taste mine and I can taste yours and we'll decide that way."

"Okay But I'm still gonna win."

"You wish baby."

Gabriella smiled as he leaned out the window just a bit looking at the menu. She was dating Troy Bolton. Troy Bolton just called her baby. If she had any friends she would have definitely called them up as soon as possible to tell them about her day…alas…she had none.

"Yeah let me get a uh…hmm…let's see….what do I want."

"Why didn't you just say can you give me a minute instead of acting like you were going to order just to hesitate" Gabriella asked.

"You know what you and that mouth…"

"Anytime sir." The male voice on the other end of the speaker called out. Gabriella laughed.

"Yeah okay let me get a chicken premium sandwich, grilled with extra tomatoes, a large fry, hmm…a chicken sandwich with cheese, and a large Hi-C."

"Will that be all for you?"

"Yep."

"You total is 7.23 please pull up to the first window."

Troy pulled up slowly to the window looking at Gabriella who had raised eyebrows. He knew it was because of what he ordered.

"What? I'm a growing boy." He said to her.

"Yeah okay." She laughed.

Troy reached for his wallet that was in the cup holder and pulled out a ten giving it to the young teenage that had a look of shock on his face. The boy did nothing but stared and gave Troy his change, which he shorted. Troy shrugged and smiled at the boy hoping he wouldn't ask for an autograph. He looked towards the front but didn't move seeing how there was two cars still in front of him. He looked at Gabriella who was holding in her laugh and he reached over and pushed her slightly. She burst out laughing looking at the boy who continued to stand there. Troy sighed and rolled up the window shaking his head.

"You think that's funny." He asked with a smile on his face.

"Yes…."

He shook his head and looked towards the front. His eyes suddenly darted to the side and he frowned slightly. His eyes scanned the tall hedges that were lining the McDonalds parking lot. He knew he just saw something move over there. It wasn't his imagination was it. He cleared his throat and looked closer. Gabriella looked over towards the way he was looking at and frowned.

"What are you looking at?"

"I don't know. I thought I saw something…"

"I don't see anything."

Troy sighed and sat back looking at the cars to see if they had moved…nope not yet. He glanced back over to the hedges and cursed loudly.

"Shit!" he yelled.

Gabriella jumped at his loud voice and started to turn where he was looking. She felt a hold of his hand that was on his face too keep her from looking.

"Bend over."

"What why?"

"Just do it."

Gabriella did as she was told and bent forward. Her hair covered her face and she suddenly knew why Troy had done what he had done. She suddenly could see, of course not directly, flashes lighting up the car. She heard Troy continue to curse.

"Don't show your face." He said.

He leaned back towards the long back seat his hand trying to reach the hoodie he had thrown there a few days ago. He finally reached it and threw it over Gabriella curing again.

"You alright?" he asked ignoring the flashing light and the questions that was being thrown at them, though they were a bit muffled since they had their windows up but you could still recognized the questions.

"Yeah I'm fine. What's happening?"

"The paparazzi. Keep your face covered." He said.

He put his head down just a bit moving his truck further even more slower than ever because of five paps that was surrounding his truck at the moment. He shook his head. He should have known that sooner or later they would find him. Especially since he hadn't been hounded for the past few days. He looked over at Gabriella and sighed. Maybe he shouldn't have asked her to be his girlfriend. Dealing with the paps was rough business…they would do anything to find anything in someone's lives. No matter how ruthless. He didn't want to put her in it. That was one of the reasons he made her cover her face. If the paps knew who she was….her life was going to be hell….and he knew she wasn't ready for that.

"Are they gone?" she asked.

"No baby. I'm sorry."

He heard her laugh.

"Guess it comes with the fame huh." She asked.

"Yeah but I don't want this for you."

He finally was able to pull to the next window to a girl who had wide eyes and was staring at him and the paparazzi with wonder. Troy rolled down his window and she smiled at him handing him the food. Troy growled at the questions that he could hear so much better now that his window was down.

"Troy, who's the young women in your car?"

"Is that your girlfriend Troy? Troy!"

"What about Kathleen does this really mean you two are over?"

"Where did you meet her at? Let's get a picture!"

"Is she your new arm candy."

Troy ignored the questions and rolled up his window setting the food in between them. He finally was managed to pull off the paps following on foot for a minute until he got to the main rode and finally sped off.

"Can I take this off now…it's hot."

"No. Wait a sec."

He looked in his review mirror to make sure they hadn't followed him. They did have a history of following the celebs. He nodded once he figured that no one would follow them but then noticed that she couldn't see him.

"Come out come out where ever you are." he sung.

Gabriella lifted the hoodie off of her and she looked over at Troy who started chuckling.

"What?"

"Your hair."

She blushed and patted her hair down, and ran her fingers through it. She took a deep breath looking around her. Well…that was an experience that she had never well…experienced before. That was one thing that didn't cross her mind what that her and Troy's relationship was going to become very public. She was actually glad that Troy threw the hoodie over her head. Maybe most girls would have thought that he was ashamed of them and didn't want anyone to see them but Gabriella had more problems than that. She didn't want anyone to know because if it got back to her father…well let's just say bad things would happen. He would show his love in the worse way possible.

"You're not mad at me?" he asked as he pulled into a burger king.

"Why would I be mad?" She said looking at him. He looked red and angry. His hand was curled up tightly against the steering wheel. Burger King wasn't as busy as McDonalds and they immediately stopped at the speaker box.

"Welcome to Burger King, Can I take your order."

"Wait a second." Troy said after he had rolled his window down.

Gabriella looked at the menu trying to decide what she wanted. She didn't want to get anything too expensive. She sighed, her eyes still on menu but she spoke.

"Tell her I want a Whopper Jr, with cheese, and a small fry and small root beer." She said.

She didn't hear him say anything and she glanced over at him. He was staring at her as though he had done the worst thing and was looking to ask for forgiveness. Gabriella gave him a questioning look and smiled.

"What's wrong?"

"You should be mad. They just came out of nowhere started trying to take your picture. Getting in your face. It was horrible."

Gabriella nodded in agreeing, but bit her lip and frowned. She knew the girl on the other side of that speaker box was probably listening to everything that was being said.

"Yeah it was but—"

"But nothing. You shouldn't have to go through that. I mean they will literally tear you life apart. Aren't you upset that I hide you?" he asked still looking for answers.

"No. I agree with you. I don't want to be in the spotlight…at all…but Troy you better order—"

"Good. Cause I don't want you in it. They'll start stalking you and probably your family and your friends at school. It would be horrible."

Gabriella said nothing. Yeah it would be horrible especially if they found out about her life, not only would she be a laughing stalk but Troy would be also. They guy that took in the loved but abused girl. And the friend's thing…well if that ever got well she's probably have more friends than Paris Hilton herself. Though of course they wouldn't be true friends.

"Troy you might want to order." She said smiling. "I'm pretty sure that girl has heard our entire conversation."

Troy snapped towards he speaker. "Yeah let me get a whopper with cheese a large fry and a large root beer. That's all."

Gabriella scoffed at him rolling her eyes. "That's not what I ordered."

"Yeah it was and don't worry about something being too expensive if it is I'll tell ya." He said pulling up to the window. "Are you sure you aren't upset—"

"No. I'm not upset. Maybe a bit scared…I mean they just came out of nowhere but…I'm not upset."

"Alight. I guess we're just going to have to be more careful especially since they now know I have you."

"Oh my god! Your Troy Bolton!"

They two looked towards the window and saw a girl around their age smiling widely. Gabriella gave her a weird look as the girl started breathing heavily fanning herself with her hand. She looked at Troy with wide eyes who just smiled tightly and shook his head.

"Can you sign this please? Oh my god! Stacy! Stacy guess who just pulled up!" she yelled back into the restaurant.

Troy took the piece of paper that was thrown at him. It as a receipt and he shook her head signing his name to it giving it back to the girl. "Can I just pay for my food please." He asked with a smile. He handed the girl the money and Gabriella gasped as she placed it against her nose and smelled it. They both watched in amazement as she stuck the money down her shirt and gave him his change. She held on his hand a little bit longer than needed . Troy smiled and tried to pull his arm back. He looked over at Gabriella.

"Damn this girl is strong."

Gabriella laughed and the girl had started to lean down kissing his arm. Troy finally was able to pull his arm away from her and he made his way to the next window rolling up the window until they had his food. Gabriella couldn't stop laughing.

"Wow…don't tell me all fans do that to you." She said trying to take deep breaths.

"Well…ya know…" he shrugged and wiped his arm on his pant leg. She pointed to the window telling him the food was ready. He rolled down his window as a boy smiled at them. He was putting a straw and ketcup in the bag when suddenly he was pushed out the way. Both Troy and Gabriella jumped as the same girl from the window before had pushed the guy out of the way into the drink machine. She had her phone out taking pictures of him and Troy groaned smiling at once. But when she continued taking pictures he turned her back on her.

"Can I just get the food please." He called out sneering at Gabriella who continued to laugh in the seat.

"Can I have a picture with you Troy? I love you so much. I want to marry you. Will you marry me? Can I have you phone number?"

"Can I speak to you manager or something? I just want my foo—"

"I'll be your food. Please Troy can I have a kiss?"

Troy scoffed his back still turned. Gabriella was now holding her stomach trying not to laugh anymore. This was just too funny.

"Here you go sir. I'm sorry for the disturbance."

Troy turned around to see an older man now standing at the window giving Troy the bag full of food. Troy nodded his head in thanks and sighed as he rolled up his window. He started to pull off when out of now where the Burger King girl still in her uniform slammed against his door. Troy pushed on his breaks and gasped as the girl tired to open the door.

"Troy I love you!" she said tears running down her face.

"What the fuck. Is she trying to get herself killed?" He said looking at Gabriella taking off again only this time slowly so he wouldn't drag the girl but he began to pick up speed just so she would let go. When Troy finally made it onto the main road the girl running down the sidewalk still yelling at him.

They were both quiet for a moment, Troy trying to get himself together after all the attacks that he had in the past thirty minutes and Gabriella was still trying to hold in her laughter. The silence didn't last long because Gabriella once again burst out laughing.

"That had to be the funniest…"

"Shut up." he said playfully with a smile on his face. "That was scary."

"I can't believe people act that way around you. I mean I've seen TMZ but still…"

"I hate those TMZ people…there such smart asses." He sneered.

She laughed again opening her bag and taking a fry out eating it.

"Well now you know why I was so attracted to you when I first saw you."

"Why?" she said a soft smile on her.

"Because you weren't psycho!" he said loudly making her laugh again. "I mean I love my fans and everything, I do, and I can actually tolerate the sane one's but when you get the ones like that…well…it's pretty scary."

Gabriella nodded her head. She really couldn't really understand where he was coming form because she had never really been a situation like that before but she guessed that it was pretty scary having people you don't know throw themselves at you. She sighed well of course she knew how that felt…especially with her father's friends.

A few minutes later Troy pulled up to a baseball field. He put the car in park but didn't get out. Gabriella looked over the field and noticed a game going on.

"You wanna watch the game?" she asked.

"I actually didn't think there would be a game today." He said glancing at the field. "Little league or something?" he asked not making out the players.

"Yeah it looks like it."

"Hmm..."

He took his McDonalds bag and took out its contents unwrapping them and began to eat. He looked over at Gabriella who continued to eat just the fries.

"So I guess you're not going to let me have a taste of you sloppiness." He said smiling at her.

She sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically, "You know you're going love it." she said taking out her burger and opening it. She pressed her lips tightly together not knowing if she should feed him or just give him the whole sandwich. Troy knew what she was thinking because she was looking from the burger to him back to the burger again. He had his own in his hand and he leaned forward helping her make the decision. She smiled holding the burger up to his lips. He took a bite the lettuce, tomato, and onion not really making it into his mouth and falling on the truck's interior. Troy shook his head and swallowed.

"See this is what I'm talking about, sloppy." He said scooping up the veggies and popping them in his mouth.

Gabriella smiled and shook her head. He held his sandwich up shaking it a little telling her that it was her turn. She stayed where she was and opened her mouth. He shook his head and his index finger made a curling motion to her telling her to come to him. She sighed and rolled her eyes scooting a little closer. He placed the sandwich against her mouth and she took a small bite.

"Man how I wish I was that chicken right now." He said.

Gabriella giggled trying not to choke on the food before she sat back in her seat.

"So…is it not like the best ever." He said putting a few fries in his mouth.

"It's…eh…" he said shrugging her shoulders.

"Eh? It's Eh? You have no idea what you're missing."

They continued eating, talking every once and while their eyes trained on the game that was played below them as well as each other. Gabriella knew that he wanted to kiss her. She could see every time he looked at her his eyes glanced down at her mouth. She would blush and look back towards the game. After this day she was thinking that it wasn't so bad dating Troy Bolton. Yes, their relationship was starting out slow…super slow with the whole not kissing part but it was fine with her and obviously it was fine with him. It wasn't that she didn't want to kiss him because at this moment she did. It was just that she scared…which was holding her back.

After eating Troy decided that it was time to take her home commenting that when he finally did meet her family he didn't want them to dislike him on site. She said nothing but smiled tightly letting herself know that there was no way in hell that he would ever meet her "family." While he drove he hesitantly reached over and grabbed her hand. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable and have her pull away from him again though when he looked at her she smiled and tightened the grip.

Gabriella sighed as he pulled up to the familiar curb. She looked at him and smiled.

"Thanks for the wonderful, hilarious, somewhat scary day Troy." She said to him.

"Thank you for accompanying me."

He smiled hesitantly and reached over giving her a hug. He felt her stiffen just for a moment before relaxing and hug him back. He placed a soft kiss on her cheek hoping that she might kiss him, but instead she repeated her action and gave him a kiss also. He inwardly shrugged. It was better than nothing.

"I'll call you tomorrow." She said. "As soon as I can."

He nodded his head. "Goodnight, have sweet dreams" he smiled, "about me."

She laughed and nodded her head. "Be careful."

He nodded his head as she got out the car. He sighed heavily and shook his head in amazement as she made her way to the back of her house. He pulled off with a smile on his face. He couldn't wait to tell Chad about his day…Gabriella was his girlfriend.

Gabriella smiled biting her lip as she made her way to the door. This had to be one of the best days of her lie. It seemed like every time she was with him it turned out be great…though there were those exceptions. But now she had a boyfriend. She had someone her father said that she would never have. But she did. She sighed deeply replaying the day, wanting to be with him at that moment. She walked into her house closing the door and leaning back on it a smile still playing on her face.

The smile soon disappeared as her father walked out into the hallway. He looked at up and down as though trying to figure something out. She cleared her throat and sighed.

"Hi dad." She said.

"It's late." He said making his way to her.

Gabriella pressed herself against the door as though she could shrink into it. "I know. I'm sorry. The uh..the paper..it took forever."

"Hmm…" He stopped in front of her before leaning forward putting a hand on each side of her leaning against the door. His breath reeked of alcohol. She cringed and tried to take a need breath only to have her stomach heave because of the smell. "Did you get it done." He asked.

Gabriella nodded her head. "Yes…of course."

"That's good." He said leaning away from her. He made a jerking motion telling her she could leave though his next words stopped her dead in her tracks.

"It's funny. I could have sworn you had your book bag with you when you left." He growled.

Gabriella froze her breathing coming out irregularly now. She had left her book bag in back of Troy's truck.

* * *

**A/N: It would really make my week if you could review…it's not that hard. **


	8. Cell Phone Bliss

**A/N: Okay ppl thankz for those of you that reviewed. You each get a Christmas cookie! I know a few of you were wondering when Troy was going to find out….he is going to find out….yeah right like I'm telling you haha…sorry didn't mean to do that…just continue on reading the story I'm sure you'll be happy with how he finds out…if he finds out…anyways here's my next chapter! It's a little shorter but I should have chapter 9 up in a few days. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 8

Gabriella froze her breathing coming out irregularly now. She had left her book bag in back of Troy's truck.

She didn't turn around and instead brought her hands together tugging on them. She could already feel tears coming to her eyes and her shoulders rose as she heard him walk slowly behind her. She took slow deep breaths and closed her eyes tightly. Damn it! How could she have left her bag in his truck? She had been having such a great time that she had completely forgot about what she needed to do in order to continue to have those great times.

Her breathing stopped, and her teeth grinded together as she felt his hand on her hair, running his huge fingers through it. She let her breath out slowly as his hands made their way to her shoulders where they laid softly. Was she going to tell him the truth? Would she lie? What would happen if she couldn't see Troy anymore? Now she understood what he said about how they hadn't known each other for very long but the feelings were there. She didn't know what she would do if she couldn't talk or see him again.

She could feel his hot breath going through her hair and hitting her neck. She tried her best not to cringe.

"Where were you?" He asked.

She looked straight ahead and tried to keep her voice from trebling.

"I was at the library, like I said." She said breathlessly.

"Where is your book bag?"

She shrugged and let out a little chuckle, "I must have left it there. Forgetful me."

"Hmm…So you were able to leave the library, get on the bus, ride…hmm...about thirty minutes, get off and walk all the way home without noticing that you didn't have a heavy bag on your back?"

Gabriella frowned and nodded her head. "I guess I just had a lot on my mind."

"I guess you did." He kissed her on the back of the head. "Go to bed sweetheart. I was just worried. I'm glad you're okay."

Gabriella opened her eyes and walked slowly to her room. She was stiff and she didn't look back to see his face. She opened her door and softly closed it. As soon as she did she collapsed on the floor breathing heavily. She held herself as she leaned on the door. She could actually feel herself trembling. He didn't do anything? He kissed her and sent her to her room? He didn't touch her in angry at all? And he was angry. Very angry she could hear it in his voice. Yet he didn't hit her. She pressed her hands to her head. What happened to him? Was he really just glad that she was alright? No that couldn't be it. Something was going to happen. She just knew. Her father couldn't have changed in a day. There was no way. Could he? Could he actually had maybe and epiphany and changed his ways?

She stood up and continued to take deep breaths to hold her emotions in. She took out a long knee length shirt, taking her clothes off and putting it on. She looked for some sweat pants and couldn't find any in the small drawer only to find that there wasn't a pair in there. She looked around her room finally finding a pair in the corner. She slipped them on and sat on the mattress looking at her door. She couldn't get it through her head that her father was just worried. Tears came to her eyes as she actually made herself to believe that he had changed. Of course they were happy tears. Her father had actually changed. He actually cared for her. He was worried because she was out late; he was worried that something had happened to her. He was actually worried. She laid her head o n her somewhat thin pillow with a smile on her face. Tomorrow she would wake up and make breakfast for him and then they would finally have breakfast as a family.

Her eyes closed softly and her chest took in air. As she slowly feel into a deep slumber a small smile on her face.

&&&

She would have thought because she went to bed with such happy thoughts that her dreams would be happy also. Thought that wasn't the case. Not only was her dreams horribly but they were also hurtful. Gabriella moaned in her sleep. She could feel something hard and cold running up leg and she groaned, shivering lightly. She frowned in her sleep wondering why she was feeling the sensation. You couldn't feel dreams could you. No, you couldn't. She sighed deeply as she felt the now hot and hard sensation crawl up her leg again. She snatched her leg from it, gasping. She moaned again and shook her head back and forth. What was that?

Suddenly she felt something hot and sticky on that same leg. She screamed loudly waking herself out of herself out of the slumber. Her eyes snapped open and she kicked her leg out only to have a hand place itself on it to keep it still. She felt the hot metal on her skin again and she screamed again. Her eyes searched the room, and was filled with tears. She sat up trying to hold her leg that was currently in heating pain. She smacked the hand away holding on to her leg. She gasped she felt warm liquid drench her fingers.

"Oh my god!" she screamed.

"So such a good little liar."

Gabriella looked around the room and could only see a shadow.

"Daddy?" she asked in a small voice.

The room suddenly filled up with light. Gabriella's eyes went straight to her leg and she gasped. Blood seeped though her leg onto her mattress. A long gash made its way from her ankle up her knee. She screamed again with pain and held her leg trying to keep the blood in. She looked at saw her father leaning against the door a soft smile on his face.

"Daddy…what…?"

"I guess you got the lying from your mother. Obviously not that good at it." he said watching her.

"Daddy why…?"

The tears burned down her face as she tried to groan at the sensation that was going through her body. She breathed heavily, crying.

"Where were you Gabriella?" he asked.

"I told you." She cried. "I was at the library! I swear it."

"Where is your bag?"

"I told you! Dad I need something to stop the blood."

"It'll stop, don't worry."

Gabriella shook her head, taking deep breaths. She was feeling dizzy and sick.

"What did you do?" she asked

"I heated a knife…brought it to your skin. You have to learn."

"Learn what!" she yelled at him tears still falling,

"To stop lying."

"I told you…"

"Shut the hell up!" he yelled coming to her. He grabbed a hold of her hair and pulled her head up so that her eyes were in his. "I'm keeping you safe you bitch. You don't appreciate any of it."

Safe? Gabriella shook her head and leaned back on the mattress. She was going to die... from loss of blood. She sniffled trying to control her tears.

"I thought you wanted to be like a real family." She called out.

He laughed. "Of course we are a real family sweetie. But you're fucking that up. A real family doesn't lie to their family members. Do they?"

Gabriella didn't answer and instead gasped for some air.

"I said do they?"

"No." she seethed out. "They don't lie."

"Good."

Gabriella watched as he left her room and she cried heavily. God…maybe she should tell someone. Maybe this isn't how this is suppose to work. Maybe she wasn't as strong as she thought. Maybe her father really wasn't looking out for her. Her eyes shoot towards her door as he made his way back into the room. He was holding a bottle and she frowned as he took a sip of the alcohol.

"What you doing daddy? I'm hurting and all you're doing is DRINKING!" she yelled at him crying even more as the pain shoot through her leg.

She watched as he narrowed his eyes and his lip curled in disgust. She tried to scoot back but her leg wasn't going to do anything. He sighed and closed his eyes.

"You want me to help you sweetheart." He growled.

Gabriella said nothing but gave him a questioning look.

She screamed like she was in a horror movie as she watched as he quickly reached down and held her leg down before pouring the alcohol over her leg. She screamed and screamed the pain shooting through her. She was going to die. She knew it. The pain was something like she had never experienced before. She felt like her air supply was going to be cut off…her head began to get lighter and she became even dizzier. She felt herself fall all the way on the mattress, breathing ragged breaths. She looked up to the man who called her father as he looked down at her.

"At least it won't get infected now." He laughed.

Gabriella moaned once more before she saw the darkness and went towards it.

* * *

Troy moaned while he stretched his body in his king size bed. He placed her arms underneath his pillow not wanting to open his eyes. He had a large smile on his face as he continued to think about his girlfriend. God that sounded good saying without thinking anything bad about the person. Girlfriend. As much as he wanted to call her to just listen to her voice, Troy shook the idea out of his head. He knew that she was usually busy dying the day and had probably gotten a good night sleep. He groaned again flipping on his back sighing heavily. He ran his tongue across his teeth. He really needed to brush them. His eyes squinted open just so that the sun light wouldn't blind them and he stepped out of his bed the cold air hitting his naked body.

Troy had always liked sleeping naked. He didn't know where he had gotten it from. He just felt more free, and plus he liked to feel the cool sheets around his legs. Yep, he was a nude sleeper. He made his way to the bathroom brushing his teeth and using the bathroom. He looked at himself in his mirror and shook his head. He looked like crapped. His mop of hair was pushed to one side sticking straight up. His eyes were a bit read and still squinting because he was still sleepy. He leaned in closer and noticed that he had lines on his face from the way he was sleeping on the pillow. He shrugged his shoulders and sighed before making his way back out of the bathing yawning as he did so.

"WHOA!"

Troy opened his eyes and closed his mouth his hands flying down to cover his…man parts as his eyes fell on Sharpay who currently had a pillow brought up to her face. Troy gasped and shook his head. Feeling a slight blush color his cheeks. He looked at her as though she was crazy.

"What the hell are you…how the hell did you get in…what are you doing here? In my bedroom!" he yelled at her.

"Umm..I wanted to talk to you." She said her voice muffled by the pillow.

Troy walked to his dresser keeping an eye on her so she wouldn't peek. He took out a pair of all black boxers and slipped them on. He looked over his shoulder to see that she had the pillow still up.

"Alright you can look." He said walking over to his closet to get a pair of pants.

"Wow." Sharpay whispered leaning against his bed.

"Shut up. Answer my questions. What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

He pulled up his jeans buttoning them while he looked at her. She had on a pair of skinny jeans that were tucked into boots that he figured was the supposed style. Her had on a off the shoulder white sparkly sweater with a white headband with a bow in it. She looked like such a little girl sometimes. Troy watched as she laid on his bed and he crossed his arms over his bare chest to listen to her.

"You gave me a key like a while ago remember and I have something to talk to you about." She said.

"And what is that." He asked her.

He watched as she reached into her huge purse that was sitting next to the bed. She pulled out a magazine and threw it at him. Troy caught it, unrolling it before looking down at it his eyes wide. On the front was a huge picture of both him and Gabriella at the McDonalds. You could see him getting the food and Gabriella bending over with a hoodie over her. Of course you couldn't tell it was Gabriella. All you could see was hoodie but he knew it was her and obviously so did Sharpay. The picture was kinda funny looking. He laughed but then scoffed at the look on Sharpay's face.

"So?"

"Is that your precious Gabriella?" She asked.

"Yes. I would like it if you didn't go to the press telling them who she is." He said making his way to the other side of his bed.

Sharpay shook her head. "I don't understand Troy. What hold does this girl have on you?"

"I don't know Sharpay. She's wonderful, and funny, and beautiful, and just…"

Sharpay frowned at the look on his face. She didn't like it. "I don't think you should give your heart away that quick Troy."

"My heart? Sharpay—"

"There is something about her that makes me uneasy, Troy." Sharpay pressured. "She's so…I can't pinpoint the word but…She's hiding something."

"Is that why you don't like her?"

Sharpay shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe. I just don't think she's right for you."

"And who is right for me?"

Sharpay sighed and shook her head. "I don't like her. I just don't."

Troy groaned and leaned back in the bed lying right next to Sharpay. "Well you know what Sharpay you're going to have to like her; I'm planning on having her in my life for a while."

"For a while?" she said scoffing. "Hello Troy! Are you in there? You won't be around her. You'll be gone. You know, with that movie that you're starring in."

Troy frowned. "I really don't want to think about that."

"Well you're going to have to because you only have a month before you leave you're precious Gabriella."

Troy said nothing at first. Yeah he did only have a month with Gabriella. And there was no way he was able to ask her to come stay with him because she still had at least few more months of school left. Then after school, maybe? No he doubted that also. Especially if he knew that her father was somewhat protective of his little girl. He licked his dry lips and looked over at Sharpay. She had a frown on her face and he frowned back at her.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked her.

"Doing what?"

"Trying to…make me…"

"She's not good enough for you Troy." She said.

"You don't even know her."

Sharpay grab the magazine that he had brought over and held it up. "Do you want your relationship to be like this Troy? Everywhere you go, you'd have to hide her. She's not going to like this lifestyle. You know that, right."

Troy shook his head. "No I don't! Dammit Sharpay you don't know that. So why don't you just keep your fucking opinions to yourself."

"I'm just trying to help."

"Help? You're trying to help by telling me that the girl that I'm interested in is some horrible person? Someone that you don't even know."

Sharpay said nothing except for stare at him. She suddenly stood up and grabbed her purse putting it on her shoulder. "I'm just trying to be a friend. Give you some outside perspective. Something is up with her Troy and you're just too blind to see it."

"Get out."

Sharpay rolled her eyes, "Fine. See you later."

Troy watched as she stomped out of his room. He jumped slightly as he heard his front door slam shut. He laid on his bed sighing heavily. He just couldn't understand her. Sharpay was one of his best friends. He would have thought her of all people would at least accept his relationship with Gabriella. He grabbed his phone that was lying on the table next to his bed and decided to call her. He knew that by now she was probably at school but he would leave her a voice message.

Gabriella felt herself being pulled out of the dark depths of her sleep. Her eyes fluttered open but she shut them quickly as her sight was blurred slightly. She tried to remember what had happen. And it didn't take long for her to remember that last night she wasn't only sleeping. She frowned and tried to move her leg before she cried out in pain. Her voice was rusty and dry and she desperately needed something to drink. Last night…last night her father had punished her. She guessed that he didn't change into the nice guy. He had just been pretending. Gabriella cursed herself. What the hell was wrong with her? She knew when her father was serious and there was no way he was pretending when she came home that night. All she remembered was that there was a lot of blood and a lot of pain in her leg.

She opened her eyes and scanned her room her vision becoming clear. She lifted herself up on her elbows taking a deep breath before pushing the blankets off of her. She did so slowly knowing that when she saw the dried blood she would probably pass out or something. It wasn't that she was scared of blood or anything. She had seen plenty of it, most of the time hers, she had just never seen that much of her blood at one time. She gasped as she looked down at her leg. It was clean. Not only was it clean but a bandage was wrapped around her leg, from the bottom of her ankle to her knee. She let out a breath and touched her leg. It still hurt like hell but it was…taken cared for.

She tried to move her leg and was surprised that she could, the only problem was a stinging and sometimes sharp pain went through it. Though it felt just like if she cut her finger on a knife and tried to move it a while later. She sat in her bed and stared in wonderment at her leg. Her door opened and she saw her father leaning against it his arms crossed. She took a good look at her father. He was a tall man. Maybe around 6'2, but then again everyone was taller than her tiny frame. His had dark brown hair that was a buzz cut. His eyes were a hard green. The lines on his face would tell a stranger that he probably had a hard life but Gabriella knew it was because of the drugs and alcohol he did. He carried himself well in public, and no one ever suspected he could be like he could. She looked down his body, he was big and muscular…like a body guard…No wonder he could overpower her.

"Morning." He said to her.

She watched as his eyes traveled over her leg.

"Good morning." She whispered.

"How are you feeling?"

Gabriella nodded her head and looked at her leg. "Good."

He made his way over to her and stood over her. His hand brushed her hair out of her face and she closed her eyes tightly breathing in harshly.

"What uh…why is my leg…"she started but he cut her off.

"I had to punish you last night." He said his hands still playing in the thick mass of her hair. "Do you know why?"

"Because you thought that I wasn't at the library." She whispered. She looked up at him. "I was you know." She said trying to keep her voice strong.

He looked at her in the eyes and Gabriella stared straight back. She knew he was trying to finally figure out the truth and her eyes would tell all. He nodded his head slowly and Gabriella looked back down.

"Doesn't matter…you hadn't been punished in a few days anyways. I took a knife and put a lighter to it heating it until it got very hot."

Gabriella thought back to last night…so that was the cold sensation then the hot sensation. He was pressing a hot knife into her skin?

"I just cut you a little…not deep but enough to make you bleed." His hands reached her shoulders and messaged her hard. "And after I did that I needed to clean it right. Had to disinfect it. So I poured alcohol on it. Man that bottle cost me a pretty penny also." He laughed.

That was what made her pass out. The alcohol touching her open wound. She shook her head and looked at her closet that was across form her with sad eyes.

"Now…if anyone asks…what are you going to say?"

Gabriella closed her eyes blocking out the closet view, trying to think of something. "That I got hurt in gym class?"

"Good girl. Man I knew I raised a smart one." He said. He leaned down and gave her a kiss. "Don't worry about school. I already called in sick today…you can stay home all day."

She watched as he made her way her room. She sat there for she didn't know how long with her eyes closed. Nothing was really running through her head. She was actually thinking about something to think about. The first thing that came to mind was Troy. She smiled to herself, after all this, the punishment and her father she still thought of him. Man she must have liked him a lot. She heard the front door slam and knew her father had left…where? She didn't know.

She got off of her mattresses limping softly to her pants where she had her cell phone in. She took the cheap little thing out of her pocket and turned it on. She had no voicemails. She sighed and made her way over to the mattress to sit down again. Her leg was starting to hurt. She fell on it with a thud and sighed. She guessed she did have a busy day. She needed to have lunch for him, just in case he came home…and dinner…and she should probably clean just to say that she was sorry for what happened.

Her head snapped towards her phone that started to vibrate and she picked it up. She saw the name Troy Bolton and smiled. Well her father wasn't here, and she wasn't at school…she pressed the call button to answer the phone and brought it up to her ear.

"Hello."

"Um…what are you doing answering the phone it's like ten in the morning. You're suppose to be at school."

"I..uh…I overslept so my dad let me stay home."

"Sounds like a cool dad." Troy said.

Gabriella didn't answer.

"So uh I have something to tell you." He said

"What?"

"We made the front page of OK! Magazine."

"What!"

"Yeah…well you can't see you but you can see me…man…I look horrible." He said laughing.

Gabriella mouth dropped open. What if her father saw that magazine? She knew that she would literally be dead if he did find out. Then again her father wasn't into stuff like that. She knew without a doubt that he had no idea who Troy Bolton and high school musical was. He just wasn't into stuff like that. And gossip magazines…forget it. Maybe she didn't have to be that worried. It wasn't like her father actually looked at that kinda stuff.

"But I'm covered right." She asked.

"Yep. There's a little article in here...umm…let's see oh here it is. _Uh-oh girls keep your broken hearts in check seems like teen heart-throb and star of High School Musical one and two, Troy Bolton, has a new lady on his arm or should we say in his car. The two were seen in a McDonald's drive-thru talking and laughing and seemed to be having a good time. Though when Mr. Bolton spotted our cameras he suddenly became very protective throwing a hoodie over the unknown female. Keeping her from prying eyes. Guess he's not ready to let the world know what a special jewel he has yet. A reliably source tells us that the girl in the car was actually "pretty cute." Could this be real love or just a rebound from his ex—"_Troy cut off.

Gabriella frowned as she listened to him speak, "Finish it."

She heard him sigh, "…_a rebound from his ex, Kathleen Markus." _He finished sighing.

Gabriella knew that he and Kathleen had broken up way before she even met him. It was in the papers everywhere. She knew that Kathleen was his co star in the High School Musical movies and she liked her. The way that she acted and sung. She thought that she had a pretty nice voice, and when she dated Troy well…everyone loved it even if it was a bit of that jealously in there that she was the one that actually dated him.

"Gabi…you are in no way a rebound." She heard him say. She bit her lips but said nothing. Could she be? Troy and Kathleen did date for a few years, how could someone just get over their ex that fast. "Gabriella I mean it. She means nothing to me now. She's just a co-star that's all. I want to be with you and only you, and not just because of Kathleen."

Gabriella nodded her head but then realized that he probably couldn't see her. "Okay Troy." She said.

"You don't believe me?"

"No. I do..I um…" she took a deep breath. As much as that nagging little voice in back of her head was screaming out not to trust him…she did. "I believe you. I do." She said strongly.

"Good." He sighed again. "See this is why I covered you. There is going to be stuff like this all the time. I guess you're just going to have to trust me to tell you the truth and not turn to these stupid magazines."

Gabriella leaned on her pillow. "I actually do trust you Troy."

"Well that's good." He said. "So what are you doing today since you're skipping school. Wanna hang out?"

"Uh…I can't…I have a lot to do, homework and cleaning my room, plus my uh…my parents and I are going out to eat for dinner so…yeah." She lied. She felt horrible doing it but knew that it had to be done.

"Hmm…that sucks. Well, I hope you have fun babe." He said a smile in his voice.

"I will. I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Bye."

Gabriella pressed the end button before pressing it again and holding it until the phone turned off. She shook her head. That splattered paint feeling was coming back and she had no idea how to handle it.

Troy sat in front of his computer listening to Donny Holland talking to him. He knew that his cast members like himself was always doing the same thing. He watched as Donny talked quickly and with his hands. He was a very expressive person. Especially when he was teaching them a song. Their first song. And since they weren't on set at the time they decided to at least get the beat and lyrics over the webcam. He now sat down looking over the lyrics as Donny taught them the beat and how the song actually went and who sung what parts. They were only learning this one song as of this moment. Kenny thought it was best that they knew at least how to sing a few songs before they all met up on set.

Troy sighed as he had his pen in his hands as he took notes on his paper that had his lyrics on it.

"So this is the prom song…It's very tricky and you guys are going to have to practice, practice practice…I mean it Chad." Donny said and Troy laughed knowing that right now at that moment Chad was probably rolling his eyes…though he couldn't see any of his cost stars he could hear them.

"I know Donny. Why you gotta hate on me?" said Chad's voice.

"Shut it." said Donny, "Now of course there are a few duet parts and solo…Chad, Troy, Kathleen, Martha, Zeke, Kelsi, Jason, Sharpay and Ryan you guys all have a bit of a solo part where you will be singing by yourself…there are parts where you're going to have to harmonize also. Plus there will be parts where only the guys sing and only the girl sings and they will overlap each other so it's going to be tough."

Troy put names next to the lyrics of who would be singing what and how it was suppose to be sung. He listened as Donny and his assistant Megan sung the song three times telling them to record it so they could at least memorize how it went. He guessed it was pretty tough. He hated singing over someone but he would do what he needed to do.

"You need to get these down guys because I talked to Kenny and he said the dancing on this is extremely difficult so you guys better be in shape. No eating McDonalds…Troy."

Troy gasped, "What?"

"Now I expect you guys to have this song memorized and once we get into the studio we can tweak it and go over your parts making sure your pitch is right and everything but for right now just get the basics down okay."

Everyone said okay before Troy logged off of his webcam. He had saved the song and was currently burning it to a CD so that he could listen to it over and over again. He learned it best like that if he just listened to it all the time. Once he burnt the CD he picked up his cell phone that started to ring.

"What."

"Way to talk to your best friend."

"Sorry Chad, I'm just getting this whole song thing together."

"Yeah I guess it's starting, the late night and early mornings."

"I guess and we're not even on set yet." Troy said.

"So how's your girlfriend? Still dodging the paps."

"I hope not. I hope she hasn't ran into them at all though she hadn't said anything. You told everyone to keep their mouths shut right?"

"Yep...they don't have a problem with it. Though you know they've been hounded on who she is. Martha said she wanted to say, "Who the fuck do you think you are. If I wanted to tell you her fucking name I would now wouldn't I stupid motherfuckers." But she thought that maybe that wouldn't look good coming out of a High School Musical cast members mouth." Chad laughed.

"Well at least she didn't tell them. "

Troy closed his computer before leaning back on his couch.

"So Taylor said that she wants to practice. You know how she is…acts just like her character. She said she's calling everyone and inviting them over on…" Chad paused. "Hey baby! What day you want the group to come over!" he asked yelling. Chad came back to the phone. "Sunday."

"Sunday? Okay you think I could bring Gabriella. I'm sure she would like to come."

"Sure you know she's always invited."

"Cool. Well I'm going to get off of her. Maybe hit the gym or something. Gotta get into shape."

"Bye dude."

Troy sat his phone down before going into his room and changing into a pair of short and a tee-shirt. He needed to do something active today since he wasn't going to see Gabriella. They had spoken to each other for the past two days, each day she didn't think she would hang out with him but that was alright with him. Now that she was his actually girlfriend he could stand just talking on the phone with her for a few days. He knew that right now she was at school…living her life as a normal teenager, and hopefully that would last as long as possible.

He grabbed his keys and made his way to the gym. He noticed he was being followed and he shook his head. It seemed to be only one car, but still Troy did not feel like being accosted by the paps today. He knew that soon he was going to have to start getting down to business. He had been thinking about how he could see Gabriella when he went off to actually shoot the movie. He knew that she wasn't going to come with him and he knew that he wouldn't always be able to fly into town to see her. He needed to figure out something because he didn't think he could wait that long to see her.

He finally reached the privet gym and he parked. He knew that he should have had his bodyguard, Mitch but he just didn't like it. Not that he didn't like Mitch cause he did, he was a good friend…a bit older than him like in his late thirties but a friend. Troy just didn't like the whole Bodyguard thing.

As he got out the car he saw a short little measly man standing there with a camera taking picture of him. Troy tired to ignore him and was glad that his phone rang. He groaned as he realized who it was.

"Hi mom."

"Who is she?"His mother's voice said deadly calm

"Oh I'm so happy that the first time you talked to your son in hmm I don't know three months it's about a girl?" he whispered making sure the pap didn't hear him though he was a distance away.

"I just want to know. I heard about Kathleen and I was just waiting for you two to get back together."

"We're not."

"Why."

"Because…I don't …Listen mom, call me later there is this pap and he's all around me…just…"

"Troy Alexander Bolton I don't care who is there I want you to tell me—"

Troy hung up the phone. He knew it was a bit rude but he didn't care. He finally made it to the gym doors. It was an exclusive gym made for people "like him". For an hour and a half he worked out lifting a few weights, playing basketball, running. He felt renewed because of the exercise though he did feel out of breath. The whole time he was thinking about her and was starting to feel that maybe he was obsessing with her just a bit. She seemed to run through his mind constantly. He didn't want to scare her away, but didn't want give her too much space and make her think that he didn't want her. Troy knew one thing he wanted from her a kiss. God if he could feel those soft lips on his again…it would make his day.

Troy never took showers in the gym…even if it was exclusive, he just felt even more dirty when he did. He checked out making his way back to his truck before he cursed lightly under his breath as he saw the same pap waiting for him. He actually waited there for an hour and a half.

"Hey Troy!" he said in a friendly voice a video camera rolling now.

"Hi." Troy said monotone.

"Just got out of the gym....how was the work out?"

"Good."

"So who was that girl in the car with you? Wanna tell us something about her?"

"No."

"Is she you're girlfriend?"

Troy didn't answer.

"What about Kathleen. What does she think about you dating again?"

"Why don't you ask her?"

"What are you plans for today? Are you going to meet your mystery women? "

Troy once again didn't answer before he opened his Truck and jumped in starting it and pulling out of the parking lot. He knew there was times when to actually talk to the paps and when to completely ignore them. When he was alone he usually would carry stupid conversations with them but when he was with anyone else he tried to run…yeah he was scared of the paps. He felt like if he was with someone no matter who it was, it wasn't going to disrespect them and put them in that predicament with talking and messing around with those stupid paparazzi.

Troy reached in his pocket as his phone rang again and he sighed.

"Damn what's with everyone calling me? Hello?"

"Who is she?"

Troy sighed and stopped at a red light rolling his eyes.

"What the hell do you want Kathleen?"

"Is this why you didn't want to get back together with me? Because of this bitch?"

"Shut up Kathleen. Damn, you don't even know her."

"Well then who is she?"

Troy sighed and shook his head. "You'll find out soon."

"What? Does Chad know and does your little dog know?"

"My dog?''

"Sharpay?"

"Sharpay is not a fucking dog you stupid bitch."

"Bitch? When did you get so vocal Troy? I would have thought that you could have at least treated me...you're ex girlfriend with respect by not dating anyone."

Troy scoffed and shut his phone shut. He continued driving a headache starting to form. His phone went off again but this time it was a text message. Troy waited until he was at another read light before reading it, from Chad

_Your f-ing ex is crazy…she called, cussed me out, 4 no reason._

Troy shook his head and texted back. _Ignore her….i did_

He took a deep breath wanting to get home as soon as possible. He wanted to turn off his phone but if Gabriella called he wanted to be able to talk to her. He decided not to answer it at all. Unless it was her. He needed her right now, wanted to tell her about his cell phone filled day with people calling and wondering. He didn't know what to do. Yep he defiantly needed that nap…he would be refreshed when he woke up…he wished.

* * *

**A/N: Please do me the favor of review…it's not that hard ppl even if you just type "yea I liked it"…or "update soon"…anything would be ...yeah update and I'll give another treat to those who do!**


	9. A Kiss to Remember

**A/N: Thank you guys for all of the reviews. I got so excited I was like I'm going to start writing the next chapter and I just finished it…I realized that the relationship in the last chapter between Gabi and her father may have been a bit much. I just wanted to make a point that her father is a little crazy, and doesn't see all punishments as the same. Like he thinks that hurting someone physically is the will have a more direct effect then grounding. So if it was a bit much for some ppl…sorry…but I hope you can understand where I come from. Though single review made me smile soo..thankz…there was even someone who actually quotes me the 'yea I liked it.' that was kinda funny….**

**I think I'm going to start being like Oprah and give away gifts because it seemed like when I gave away the Christmas cookies I got a lot more review lol...so those who reviewed on the last chapter you will get…**

…**the new ipod nano which come a diversement of colors…congratulations to all of you…**

**Okay now…that you reviewers are satisfied with your gifts…lets get on with the story**

Chapter 9

Gabriella limped slowly out of the school trying to keep the attention far away from her. She didn't want people to come up to her and ask her what was wrong with her. It wasn't as though they would have come up to her anyways and asked her what was wrong with her, but still…if they ever did decide to do it then she didn't suspect anything. Though she knew she didn't have to worry about anyone noticing anything about her. She had came to school with no book bag and only half of her books, and still she didn't get in trouble at all about it…not even a teacher said anything to her. She sighed heavily as she continued to limp. She didn't hurry to the bus stop but instead took her time walking there. Her leg was in a little pain after all.

She held a few books up to her side as she made her way. She wanted nothing more than to be with Troy right now. To just rest and relax with him. He had called and asked her if she wanted to hang out with him over Chad's house on Sunday. She hadn't given him an answer because she herself was wondering how to get away from her father…well…if she wanted to get away from her father. Still she hadn't come up with a plan. While she was in thought she didn't notice a car that pulled up to her. She only snapped out of her thoughts when someone beeped the horn. She jumped and looked towards the black sports car her eyes huge. What was he doing here?

"Umm...?"

"Hey underage drinker."

Gabriella stopped walking as she looked at a dark head guy that was sitting comfortably in the driver's seat. He was the same guy that she had met in the grocery store. He had the passenger window down and had his arm thrown across the passenger's seat. Gabriella looked around to see if anyone noticed that someone had pulled up to her. She was a bit away from the school but students were still around.

"What are you doing?"

"I wanted to see you."

Gabriella scoffed. "So you decided to stalk me."

He shrugged his shoulders. "You want a ride home? I would hate if you had to catch the bus all by yourself."

Gabriella shook her head and continued to walk his car following her slowly.

"Why would I want to get in a car for you to take me home when I don't even know you." She asked.

"My name is Nathan. "He called out. "Nathan Beaumont."

Gabriella glanced over at him. He had a smile on his face showing off his perfect white teeth. She frowned slightly.

"How did you find me? You don't know me…"

"No but I kinda figured out where you went to school at."

"And how would you know that?" She asked as she kept limping to the bus stop.

"Because of the store you went to. No one from the north side would ever be caught dead going into a grocery store on the south side. So I guessed that maybe you lived around there somewhere and if you did then you went to Jefferson."

Gabriella said nothing as she finally reached the bus bench. His car was right in front of her. She sat her books down beside her and crossed her arms as she continued to look at Nathan.

"Are you going to tell me your name? I mean I think I should know since we keep running into each other."

"You mean you keep running into me." she corrected.

He laughed and Gabriella kept frowning at him. She looked down the street to see if the bus was coming.

"It's not going to hurt. How about just your first name?"

Gabriella looked at him her eyes narrowing. "Why did you find me?"

"Because I haven't been able to get you out of my head since that day."

Gabriella bit her lip and shook her head. "Well you're going to have to, because I have a boyfriend."

"Really? Who?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes wishing the bus would hurry up. She didn't know why on the days she really needed to go home it took forever, but when she wasn't in a rush it came early. "You don't know him." She said.

"Well you're not in love with him, are you?"

Gabriella gasped at him and her mouth dropped open a little. She took her eyes away from him and groaned. "I don't think that's any of your business."

"I'll take that as a no."

Gabriella glanced back at him. He was starting to make her uncomfortable. She rubbed her hands together.

"Look I just want to at least talk to you. Get to know me, I'm a really nice—"

"Does I have a boyfriend mean nothing to you?" she asked scoffing at him.

"No actually it doesn't because you don't love him."

"Don't presume tell me who I do and do not love." She snapped at him. "Leave me alone. I'm not interested in you."

"But I'm interested in you."

Gabriella licked her lips and looked down at the ground making sure she didn't look at him in order not to encourage him. She wished that he would just leave. She had a bad feeling about him. First who just shows up at a high school to see a person when you didn't even know them, and now here he was still trying to talk to her after she had told him that she had a boyfriend. Thinking about him he wondered what Troy would do if she told him about Nathan. She wondered if he was a jealous boyfriend or not. She sighed and looked back at Nathan thinking of a way to get him to leave and at the same time wishing the bus would come.

"Tell me your name?" she heard him ask again.

Gabriella rolled her eyes still looking away from him. "I'm not sure my boyfriend is going to like you talking to me. Actually I know he won't so just…go…leave."

"Oh no sweetheart. I'm going to pursue you, until you give me a chance."

"So you're going to come to my school every day?"

"If that is what it takes." He grinned at her.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes at him. She heard a rumbling and looked up to see the bus pulling up right behind his car. She quickly picked up her books and started to make her way towards the bus. She looked once more at Nathan.

"Stay away from me." she said before she got on the bus.

She swiped her bus pass and sat near the front her eyes scanning his car as the bus passed it. She shook her head in annoyance. Maybe she should tell her father and he would do something about it. He did want to keep guys out of the picture when it came to her. Maybe he could like track him down and threaten him or something. That wouldn't work because then her father would have eyes on her all the time and then she wouldn't be able to sneak out to see Troy.

Once again thinking about Troy see needed to figure out a way to see him on Sunday.

&&

She guessed that fate had plans for her. Saturday afternoon had rolled around and Gabriella was in the kitchen scrubbing the counters, making sure that they were clean. She continued to limp slightly, her leg still wrapped up in the white bandage. Each night she took it off to let the cool air hit it and each night she looked at the long nasty scared that branded her slim leg. She would never wear a dress or shorts again. There was no way. It was the ugliest thing that she had ever seen, but it was her fault that she had it. She should have been more careful.

She limped to the sink rinsing out the towel under hot water before she heard someone clearing their throat. She turned around to see a man leaning against the doorway looking at her. He was a tall man…not as tall as her father, but tall…he was rather skinny with light brown hair that reached his ears. He had a twisted smile on his face and Gabriella groaned under her breath and turned back around to wring the towel of its excess water.

"Well you sure are a pretty young thing." He said.

She said nothing but went to the other side of the sink to clean the counter.

"Hmm…"

"Leave my daughter alone, Collin."

Gabriella looked back up with hope. Hoping that her father was going to put him in his place, but she only looked up to see her father smiling at Collin. She frowned and turned back around.

"She's not ready for that." He said "Yet…"

Gabriella rolled her eyes and scrubbed harder on the counter.

"Gabriella?" her father called out. "Come here."

Gabriella immediately put the towel down and limped over to where he was standing next to Collin in the kitchen doorway.

"Yes."

"I'm going out of town."

Gabriella made sure she didn't show any type of emotion as the words left his mouth. He was going out of town!

"I won't be back until late Sunday night…maybe around two or three."

"Okay."

"You are to clean the house." He said simply. "The whole house…every room."

"Every room?" she said with a frown.

"Thoroughly . It should take you all day today and tomorrow." He said.

Gabriella nodded her head. If it took her all day that meant she wouldn't be able to spend time with Troy tomorrow.

"I want it spotless. Understand." He said.

She nodded her head.

"I mean spotless. If I see one speck of dust…." He left off insinuating what would happen.

She didn't look at him but nodded her head.

"Good. Too bad you don't have a cell, I'd call and check up on you…make sure you're alright." He said placing a hand on her cheek as though he cared.

"I guess I'll be fine." She whispered. "The house be…cleaned."

"Of course it will."

She looked at him nodding her head again.

"Hurry up man…By the time we get there all the good shit's going to be gone." Collin said tapping his foot.

"Be patient. He won't sell it all." Her father snapped at him.

He smiled at her before leaning down and kissing her softly on the forehead. Gabriella trembled slightly. She watched as he turned around, picked up a duffle bag and made his way out of the house, Collin following him, but not before he looked at him and smiled nastily at her. The front door closed with a loud Thud and Gabriella sighed loudly. It was going to take forever for her to clean the house. Her father was right it was going to take all day and tomorrow to do everything.

She limped to her room, finding her cell phone that was tucked under her mattress. She turned it on; ready to dial Troy's number to tell him that she wouldn't be able to come until she stopped. She looked at the time on the cell and bit her lip. If she started now and worked all though the night maybe she could get everything done. She might be a little tired tomorrow but it would be worth it spending time with Troy. She nodded her head with determination and put the cell in her pocket, just in case Troy called.

She would have to work hard but she could do it. She would have to be patient, making sure that when she cleaned, she did it right. There would be no time for sleep, she wanted to spend time with him tomorrow and sleeping was a thing she was going to have to sacrifice in order to do it. She looked at the clock. It was 2:23.

She started immediately first starting with the living room. She picked up the trash, beer bottles, and potato chip bags that had been left by her father. She moved the furniture around making sure there was nothing under them which there was…an assortment of trash which she picked up also, she removed the cushions cleaning under them. She dusted and swept as well as vacuumed. And even took the hose to vacuum the curtains and the couches and chairs. She arranged the assortment of movies that her father had collected consisting of a huge amount of porn DVDs. She blushed slightly as she looked at some of the covers. She had never watched one and didn't want too…they seemed so…explicit.

Next she moved on to the kitchen. She had already cleaned the counters but knew that she would have to do it again. She cleaned out the refrigerator that was almost empty of food making sure it was spotless as well as the freezer. She stuck her head in the oven making sure that she cleaned it out though she knew that by the time she was finished with that it had taken her about an hour and a half to do it. She made sure to clean out all the cabinets making sure that no dust was settled in them at all. She swept and mopped the floor making sure it shinned. It was hard work and by the time she was done with the kitchen her leg was killing her. She limped to the hallway leaning her back against the wall as she slid down.

She was anxious to take out her phone to see the time but she didn't. She just wanted to get it done with. She rubbed her leg as she rest for a while and thought about the rest that she would have to do. The hallway, the bathroom, her father's room, as well as hers. Not to mention that she had clothes that needed to be wash. She groaned out loud. She had forgotten all about clothes. She would have to go to the Laundromat and do them. She knew of a twenty-four seven one, she would have to get on the bus to get there, but she would do that last. She decided that she had enough rest and continued working.

After doing the hall and bathroom which was very disgusting Gabriella made her way into her father's room, making sure his closet was clean but being very careful at the same time. She threw trash away made his bed. She carried around a trash bag making sure to throw stuff away in that instant. She walked to the tables that he had next to his bed and sighed as she looked down at the assortment of needles. She didn't want to throw them away and then have some poor garbage man accidently sticking himself with them. She ran to her room and looked around for something that she could put them in and found a purple pencil case. When she returned she carefully placed the needles in the case, praying that she didn't prick herself with them. When she finally had them all cleared she closed the pencil case before setting it on the table. She would figure out something to do with them.

She continued to move on to her room. Which she did quickly but thoroughly. She knew her father would look in her room and if he found the stuff that she was hiding well…another punishment would be in order. She gathered everything that she knew he wouldn't like and put it in a plastic bag. It wasn't much. A few DVD's, her portable DVD play, her makeup, and a few magazines, was mostly all that was in there.

After she was finished she gathered the three trash bags that was filled with trash and threw them in the huge trashcan that they had outside. It was dark. Really dark and Gabriella wondered what time it was. It didn't matter. She rushed back in grabbing her bag of secrets and the pencil box before going back outside and running though the backyard. She made her way towards some bushes placing the items back there for the time being. She knew her father wouldn't check back there. Rushing back into the house she gathered all the dirty clothes she could find dumping them in some two huge trash bags. After getting the clothes she left her house and made her way to the bus stop carrying the trash bags.

It took forever getting to the Laundromat especially since her arms, and leg was killing her. She was glad that she could rest a while, while the clothes were washing. She sat in a chair closing her eyes. She was just getting ready to fall into a soft sleep when her phone rang. She jumped a little before digging it out of her pocket and answering it.

"Hello?"

"Hey babe."

Gabriella blushed a little, "Hi. How are you?"

"Pretty bumped out. I haven't spoken to you all day. What are you doing?"

"Washing clothes."

"This late. It's almost—"

"Don't! Don't tell me the time." She rushed out.

"Umm…okay…"

She laughed a little so he wouldn't get suspicious. "So…what are you calling me for if it's…this late."

He laughed. "Well I just wanted to see if you were still going. You know to Chad's house tomorrow?"

Gabriella nodded her head. "Yes. I'll go."

"I will pick you up at nine if that's alright. It's going to be a long day and it does take a while to get there from your house."

"No…um...actually that's fine." She said.

"Okay well I'll see you then."

"Bye."

"Bye baby."

Gabriella closed her phone shut and sighed. She wasn't used to him calling her baby and babe and he seemed to do it comfortably. It wasn't like they were a regular couple. Besides the fact that he was famous. They hadn't kissed since that day at the beach. Deep inside she wanted him to kiss her again. She liked the feel of his lips on hers. But she knew he wasn't going to kiss her. At least he wasn't going to be the one to insinuate it. He said that she would have to kiss him and that was huge on her part. She didn't want him to think that she was…slutty because she wanted to kiss him…then again she didn't want him to think that she didn't want him because she wouldn't kiss him…what to do? Should she kiss him tomorrow when she saw him or should it be something romantic?

She snapped out of her thoughts as she listened as one of her washers went off with a loud ding and she went to put the clothes in the dryer. She repeated this process over and over again. She had four loads to wash and dry and it seemed to be taking forever. She was getting sleepy and nodded off every once and a while. When the clothes were dry and she folded them and put them in the trash bag as best as she could hoping that they wouldn't get wrinkled and she wouldn't have to iron them.

She was finally done with the clothes and she made her way back home getting on the bus and traveling down the uneven sidewalk to make it to her house. She unloaded all the clothes sighing heavily as she looked at the jeans. She would have to iron them but the rest seemed to be fine and she put them in their corrected drawers. It took a while to iron all the jeans. Her father at least had eight pairs, and she herself had three and they needed to be wrinkled free.

After hanging up the last pair Gabriella fell on her mattress with a deep sigh as she took out her cell phone. She closed her eyes before opening them and looking at the time. 4:43. It had taken her almost fifteen hours to do everything. Man she was slow…or maybe she was fast. She just hoped that everything was cleaned. She fell on her pillow not bothering to take off her clothes as she set her alarm clock on her phone. She needed to get up early to make sure she was ready to see her boyfriend. A soft smile feel on her face as she fell into a deep sleep…her boyfriend.

&&&

She sat down on the curb running her leg through her jeans lightly. She was still a bit sleepy but managed to feel somewhat refreshed when she woke two hours and a half later. She had taken a shower, done her hair, which she just brushed dry. The soft waves formed themselves and she thought that she looked decent enough. The hardest thing was figuring out what to wear. Of course she wasn't going to wear a dressed and decided on jeans. She put on a simple long sleeved white plan shirt and placed a light pink collared shirt on top…trying to go for the layered look. She didn't look that…dressed up, and she looked like she was just going to school or something but she was so tired…she didn't worry about it.

She looked up as she saw a familiar truck turn the corner and she smiled.

Troy sighed once again as she saw her sitting on the corner. Always there, she was. He smiled as he saw her stand. She was so beautiful. Her hair lay over her shoulders in thick waves; her full lips were turned up in a smile. Lips that he wanted to kiss so bad when she got in. He frowned a little as he noticed that she limped towards the door and had a bit of trouble getting in, though he smiled at her as she closed the door. Troy fought the urge to close his eyes and take a deep breath. She smelled wonderful, a fragrance that he would always remember. He sat there looking at her for a few seconds and was surprised that she leaned over towards him.

His heart raced underneath his chest as he watched as her lips made their way towards his. Troy let his eyes closed wishing she would hurry up, so he could take control. Though they never made it to his lips but instead pressed the softness against his cheek. His eyebrows were raised and a smirk formed on his lips as he sighed. Well at least it was better than nothing.

She leaned back and gave him a soft smile.

"How are you?" he asked pulling off.

"Good." She said simply.

"Are you sure? Cause you looked like you were having trouble walking and getting in."

Gabriella sighed and decided to tell him what was wrong. It wasn't that she could fake walking straight with her somewhat limp. "Umm…I was at school, in gym, and there was an accident…I got hurt."

Troy's eyes widen as he glanced down at her leg. "Hurt? Are you alright? What happened?'

Gabriella smiled gasping a little coming up with a quick lie. "I uh...we were…playing softball and uh…the uh…pitcher, she hit my leg."

"She hit it so hard that it caused you to limp?"

"She's really good. The ball was very fast." Gabriella said strongly.

"Wow. She mustn't been that good if she hit you in the leg, I mean if she hit you in the arm or even the face I could understand that but the leg?" he shook his head in amazement. He guessed anything could happen during sports. "Do you have a bruise or something?"

"Uh…yeah, The nurse wrapped it up…you know…"

Troy nodded his head silently trying to imagine his girlfriend being hit with a softball. "Well at least you're alright." He said smiling over at her. She nodded her head and he noticed that she had leaned her head against the head rest with her eyes closed.

"Sleepy?" he asked with a smile.

She nodded her head. "Yeah…um…I couldn't sleep. I was so excited about see you, my brain just wouldn't let me shut down." She laughed.

"I was excited too. I'm glad that I can spend some more time with my girlfriend that I don't nearly get to see as often as I want too."

He didn't hear a reply and looked over at her again seeing that she had fallen asleep. Troy stopped at a red light and he looked over at her. His hand reached over to her and pushed some of her dark curls out of her face and behind her ears. She sighed deeply and he wondered how he ended up with such a beautiful, enduring person. He felt as though there was still something's that he needed to learn about her. Mostly her habits and quirks. He thought about what Sharpay had said to him. That she was hiding something. He didn't think that was true but if it was he wanted her to be comfortable enough to tell him. He grabbed her hand softly in his as he pressed on the gas as the light turned green.

&&&

When they entered the house he wasn't that surprised that almost everyone was already there. He called out that they were there and found everyone down in the finished basement that consisted of a home theater which Chad had took the idea from him, a small gym, and a sitting area. They made their way down the stairs; Troy's hand holding onto Gabriella's the whole time. He saw Martha, Taylor and Kelsi sitting down on one of the comfy couches talking while Chad, Zeke, and Jason and Ryan was around a computer where Chad was sitting typing something. He wondered what they were doing.

Gabriella couldn't keep the stunned look off her face as she entered the house again as well as the basement…it was just stunning. Especially the home theater which had a huge projection screen facing about twelve movie like chairs. She laughed under her breath amazed. She followed Troy down and watched as he pointed towards Taylor and the girl.

"You wanna go over there?" he asked her.

She pressed her lips together and nodded her head. She thought that he was going to come with her but when he let go of her hand and pushed her in the direction she became a bit nervous. She twisted her hands together as she approached them. Taylor was the first to look up to see her, and huge smile on her face.

"Gabriella! Hey girl. Come here, sit down." Gabriella smiled and made her way limping slightly over to Taylor.

"What happened to you?" Kelsi asked.

"Oh…umm…" she told the same story she told Troy which had the girls on a talking spree.

"She probably did it on purpose." Martha said. "I mean who pitches and hits a leg."

"Yeah, it had to be. That just too weird." Kelsi stated.

"Weird?" Gabriella asked. "Why would she do it on purpose?"

"Probably because she was jealous of you." Taylor said.

"Jealous?"

"Yeah…" Taylor said smiling at her, "Look at you…you're like a... hottie super bum."

Gabriella laughed knowing where she got the line from, but she shook her head, "I don't think so." She said knowing that, that wasn't the real reason she was limping and if it was it wouldn't be out of jealously that the girl hit her.

"Oh come on…you captured Troy's attention." Martha said.

Gabriella said nothing but smiled. The girls smiled with her.

Troy nodded his head as he looked over at Gabriella she seemed to click well with the girls and he was glad about that. He made his way over to Chad to see what they were looking at, because whatever they were looking at had them enthralled.

"What the hell are you guys looking at? Porn?" he asked.

"Yeah Troy, I'm going to look at porn when my girlfriend is right here in the room." Chad said rolling his eyes.

"Well with you, you probably would." Ryan stated making the guys laugh a bit.

"We're looking at these stories" Chad said ignoring them.

"Stories?"

"Chad decided to google himself." Zeke said.

Troy laughed. "You googled yourself?"

"I was bored okay." Chad said defensively, "Anyways I found this website where people like post stories about us."

Troy gave him a questioning look. "Stories? What kind of stories?"

"All kinds. It's pretty funny. There is one with me and Taylor and how we met and fell in love. There is a lot about you and Kathleen, some where she's a bitch and you turn her around some where you're a bitch and she turns you around." Chad laughed. "There's some with Jason and Kelsi…Zeke and Sharpay…Ryan and…."

Troy looked at the guys as the suddenly became quiet. "Ryan and who?" he asked, looking at Ryan.

Ryan rolled her eyes. "Me and you. And some of them are pretty graphic." He said.

"What! You and me like…we are like…gay or something?"

"Not the or something part." Chad said laughing.

"I didn't know fans wrote stories about us. " Zeke said looking down at a story they were currently reading. "That's pretty sweet."

Troy frowned and shook his head. "I'm not gay."

"Well some people think you are." Chad said laughing. Troy slapped him on back of the head.

"I'm sorry Ryan but—" Troy started

"Whoa! Who said I was gay!"Ryan said protesting. "I'm not gay!"

"Well you do wear some interesting clothes" Jason said.

"Just because I like to look my best, and actually dress up and not look like some baboon who just rolled out of bed doesn't mean I'm gay."

"Well it's not like you have your eye on somebody." Chad said shutting down his computer.

"As a matter of fact I think that Kelsi is very—" Ryan started.

"Kelsi!" Troy gasped keeping his voice low. "You like Kelsi?"

Ryan blushed a little before crossing his arms. He looked at his friends who were all staring at him with a look of shock and wonder, all with smiles on their faces. Ryan sighed. "Look I'm not gay. You should be asking Zeke that question. He doesn't even like anyone." He said trying to keep the conversation off of him.

Zeke glared at Ryan as the guys then turned on him. "I do like someone and that someone and I are…getting along perfectly fine."

"Who?" Ryan urged.

"No of your business."

"More like no one." Chad said laughing.

Zeke rolled his eyes and looked at Jason. "What about Jason—"

"Hey everyone knows I got a thing for Martha." He said smiling shrugging his shoulders.

Zeke sighed "let's get this practice over with." He said walking away from them and towards the girls.

Troy laughed and made his way over to them realizing that they were missing two people.

"Where are Kathleen and Sharpay?" he asked as they all sat around in a circle. Troy sat close to Gabriella putting his arm around her. He felt her stiffen beside him before relaxing completely.

Ryan stood up and ran upstairs.

"I tried to call Kathleen put she isn't picking up her phone." Taylor said getting up herself putting in a CD. She grabbed the stereo remote and sat back down next to Chad.

Ryan came back a few minutes later Sharpay following him looking as though she had just woken up. She smiled at Troy but that smile froze as she noticed his arm around _her_.

Gabriella smiled softly at Sharpay as she stared at her. She didn't know what she did to make her act that way towards her. Did she like Troy and hoped that she would be with him when him and Kathleen broke up? She hoped not.

"Okay I have the instrumental and the regular song on here. Well sing along to the song, get the beat in our heads ,before we try it by ourselves."

"What about Kathleen's part?" Martha asked

"Well she has a small part by herself…we can hum it to ourselves and continue." Taylor said pressing play.

Troy hadn't been paying attention as his hands hand playing with Gabriella. He was suppose to start off the song. His fingers traveled over hers delicate ones tracing them, memorizing them. Gabriella licked her dry lips as he did so as shivers ran down her arms. It was something so innocent yet so intimate. They both snapped out of their thoughts as someone threw a piece of paper at Troy hitting him on the head.

"Troy! You're starting off the song and it's quick!" Taylor snapped. "Be ready. Okay again."

Troy rolled his eyes and looked down at his paper singing along with Donny under his breath. He really didn't put his all into it because of two reasons. One…he was singing with Donny and was just getting the beat down he didn't need to sing his heart out right now and two…because of the entrancing girl sitting next to him. He knew that she had heard him sing before…but only in movies. He was somewhat a little scared about singing right in front of her.

Gabriella listened to they copied the CD about three times before Taylor pressed the next button for them to sing by themselves. She had listend as they had sung, and noticed that Troy had a tinge of pink on his cheeks as he sung softly.

Taylor looked over at him with wide eyes before she stopped the CD.

"What's wrong Troy?" she asked "You never sing like this."

Troy sighed and glanced over at Gabriella.

Chad laughed. "I'm sure she's not going to mind that you can't sing."

Troy glared at him.

Gabriella frowned. "It's me?" she said shaking her head.

"No." Troy said.

"Yes." Sharpay said at the same time.

Troy eyes snapped towards her and he glared at her before she rolled his eyes and looked back down at the paper.

"No Gabriella." He stated.

"I can leave if you want. Go upstairs, if I'll make you more comfortable." She said starting to stand up.

"Please do." Sharpay said.

Taylor threw a ball up piece of paper at her.

"No." Troy said again. "You're not making me uncomfortable. Please stay."

Gabriella frowned and sat back down. She crossed her arms close to her body. She didn't want to be there if she was messing up their practice. Troy sighed and was determined to put away his shyness. When had he ever been shy? He nodded towards Taylor for her to start the song again.

"Let's rock this shit!" he said and they all laughed.

Taylor pressed play.

"Guess now it's official." He started and they all started to sing the song.

By the end of the song everyone was quiet and they all looked at each other.

"That was fucked up." Chad said simply.

They all laughed.

"We have to practice. It wasn't going to be great on the first time." Kelsi said.

"We need the Kathleen part. At least for right now. That's where I got messed up." Taylor said.

Gabriella smiled at them. She had to admit that the first time they tried it on their own it did suck. They guys were suppose to sing the same time as the girls and it was just a mess…especially at the end they couldn't get the "never ever" part right. And they were all saying the different things at the wrong time.

"Here."

She felt a paper being thrust in her hands. She looked up with wide eyes as she saw Ryan sitting back down across from her.

"What is this?"

"The lyrics." He said.

"Why."

"You can sing Kathleen's part."

Gabriella gasped and shook her head. She had heard the song a few times to know how it went but still… "No...No…I'm not a singer…I can't do this…this is Kathleen's part and I just….I can't."

"Oh come on." Jason said smiling at her. "It's a little part."

Gabriella shook her head. "I can't even sing!" she said looking at them all. "I can't really."

"Please Gabriella." Taylor urged. "It's a quick part and you don't even have to sing with the rest of us when we all sing together."

Gabriella shook her head.

"Okay guys. She doesn't want to so stop pressuring her." Troy said calming the group.

Gabriella smiled at him but looked around. Taylor, Ryan, Martha, Kelsi, Jason, and Zeke, had somewhat distraught faces, Sharpay kept rolling her eyes and Chad was cleaning his finger nails with the corner of the paper. She sighed. She didn't want to let them down. Especially when she would call them friends. She didn't have friends before.

"Okay." She said softly and they all cheered except for Sharpay. Even Chad did so though he looked as though he didn't know what he was cheering about.

"Are you sure?" Troy asked her, his thumb running across her palm.

"Yeah. Just don't laugh when you hear me sing."

"Don't worry about it." Chad said. "You can't sound any worse than Zeke."

They laughed again and Taylor pressed the play button.

Gabriella's heart was beating rapidly as she waited for her part to come up.

"I think this tux is too baggy, too tight, it makes me look weird." Troy sung.

Gabriella took a deep breath glad that it was this only little part, "Should I go movie star, glamorous."

"Sassy or sweet" Martha continued with the song.

She looked over at Troy who started to sing his part and noticed that he had a smile on his face though he didn't look up at her cause he was looking at the paper. Gabriella looked down at her paper and decided to softly to sing along to some parts. It was a catchy tune.

"It's the night of our dreams."

…

"Don't know what a corsage is"

….

"Lucky us…"

Troy looked at Gabriella and smiled his eye brows raised. He though that that she had done fantastic with her little part and thought she was actually a pretty good singer because he had heard her sing along with the girl parts. He noticed that she was becoming more comfortable, and he was glad that she was.

"Soo, what should I do with my hair." Sharpay sung.

"Where's my shaver." sung Ryan

"Ooh I love it."

"I look like a waiter."

"Should I fluff it?"

"It's getting late I already should be there." they harmonized together.

Gabriella looked at Sharpay while she sung and she seemed to really enjoy it. They continued with the song.

"Don't know why her father's staring me down..."

"Where's my purse, lip gloss, now I'm really freakin out."

….

They did pretty good though once they got to the end with the "never ever" party they all screwed it up again. Gabriella laughed along with them.

"Let's take a break." Chad said. "I'm starved."

They all made their way to the kitchen each grabbing random things out of the cabinets and refrigerator. Troy made him and Gabriella a turkey sandwich with some potato chips before leading her out to the deck where Chad had burnt the stakes. They leaned on the railing both quite while they ate. Troy looked over at her as she took a huge bite of her sandwich and couldn't help but laugh. Gabriella looked up at him with a confused look.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just got a girl that can eat." He said taking a bite himself.

Gabriella frowned and placed her sandwich back on her plate. She didn't want to seem like she was greedy. Troy shook his head.

"No. No. I like it. You're not running around here eating rabbit food." He said.

"Rabbit food?"

"Salads."

Gabriella nodded her head in understanding but she didn't pick her sandwich back up and Troy noticed this. Did he make her uncomfortable that now she couldn't even eat in front of him? He sighed and nudged her a little.

"Please eat. If you're hungry than you should eat. I don't want you starving yourself."

Gabriella smile lightly before picking up her food and started to eat again. They continued with the silence but it was tensed. Like they needed to hurry in order to talk. Troy watched as she ate the last of her chip before quickly taking her plate and setting his and hers upon the grill. He walked back over to her and took her hand…his thumb rubbing slightly back and forth, as he leaned against the railing his back towards the pool.

"Full?"

"Yes." She whispered. She suddenly noticed the changed in the atmosphere and she was getting nervous. She held onto his hand and looked at him a soft smile playing on her face. She did not know how to act around him. She bit her lip and did what came naturally. She stood in front of him before leaning towards him and wrapping her arms around his waist hugging him. She was stiff and didn't know if he would like it or not, but when she felt his arms wrap around her she relaxed. Her eyes closed as she softly breathed in his scent. It must have been some really expensive cologne that he had on, whatever it was it smelt wonderful. She smiled lightly as she let herself get swept up in the moment. The moment that she had her arms wrapped around a very toned and hard body…but a hard body that wouldn't do her any harm. Her hands clasped together meeting in the middle of his back.

Troy pressed his lips together smiling to himself, when she leaned into him. He wasn't very surprised that she did, because she had seemed to become more comfortable around him. Hopefully she'd become even more comfortable to kiss him. His hands placed with the ends of her hair, which was currently lying on her back. She smelled good and he took a deep breath breathing in the scent of honey and vanilla. He couldn't help it as his hands made their way to the thickness of her hair and he ran his fingers through it.

Gabriella felt herself become even more relaxed as she felt his fingers though her hair. Those little butterflies that had made their appearance before came back and they made their way from their stomach to her heart. She opened her eyes and leaned back to look at him. His electric blue eyes connected with her mocha one and she couldn't help but let out a little sigh. Their faces were so close and she could feel his warm breath on her face. She bit her lip again and she could see in his eyes that he was urging her to kiss him. She stood on her tip toes and leaned her face towards his before bushing her lips against his.

It was a little clumsy at first since she never had been the one to kiss anyone, but she got it under control as she moved her mouth back and forth on his. She could feel him taking control. He felt warm and firm, and Gabriella gave in to the urge to return his kiss, as she slanted her mouth underneath his. She felt his tongue probing her lips, and she gasped, giving him the opportunity to slip inside and taste the warm hollow space of her mouth.

The kiss was so intimate, though it was thrilling. Gabriella felt the warmth spread thought her body, everywhere from her stomach to her toes. She felt her knees weaken at the feeling and her hands automatically made their way around his neck. A soft moan escaped from her as his hands pressed against her back and into him.

Troy had opened his eyes and he watched her expression change from confusion to unashamed excitement, before he closed them again. Her mouth was perfect, it fit with his and it was sweat even though the taste of their food was both still lingering in their mouths. He was consumed with a nearly overwhelming urge to pick her up and start doing things to her that he knew would probably scare the hell out of her. His arms tightened around her and their lips slanted over each others. He ran his hands through her hair pulling her as close as possible. She was like a drug and he didn't want to stop taking her.

"Troy?"

Troy cursed softly as he pulled back from Gabriella. Their breathing was heavy and he still had her head in his hands. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was still open as though she was waiting for him to kiss her again. He was just about to when he heard his name again.

"Troy!"

He looked up and saw Sharpay looking at him. She didn't look upset, just a little disappointed. Troy glared at her for interrupting him. He looked back at Gabriella who still hadn't opened her eyes and he smiled.

"What?" he said as he continued to look at Gabriella's mouth.

"Chad wants you. He's in the basement."

Troy nodded his head. He watched as Gabriella opened her eyes and he had to gasp at the passion he saw there, they were a bit lighter, and that confused him a bit because usually when someone was turned on their eyes got a bit darker. She looked at him with wonder before she unwrapped her arms and took a step back from him.

"Do you wanna come with me?" he asked in a ragged voice.

"No. I need some air." She whispered. She watched as he placed a hand on her side of her face and kissed her on the cheek before making his way into the house.

Gabriella walked to the rail and leaned against it looking over at the pool. A heated blush rose in her cheeks as she remembered the feelings that were running though her body as she had kissed Troy. Even now she felt a bit dizzy and the pit of her stomach was twitching. She tried hard to get her breathing to return to normal by taking deep breaths. She should be feeling like a blatant slut, but instead, she didn't and an excited shiver went up her as she thought about the next time they would kiss. She couldn't deny that she was looking forward to it again. A soft smile formed on her lips and she laughed a bit.

"Very entertaining."

Gabriella turned around to see Sharpay standing in front of her, her arms crossed across her chest. Her blond hair was put into a low pony tail. She had on a sparkly blue tank top with black shorts on. Gabriella sighed and blushed again.

"I'm sorry for that. I didn't think anyone would see us." she said softly.

Sharpay sneered at her.

"I'm not stupid you know." She said.

Gabriella gave her a questioning look. "I never said you were."

"Something is up with you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're hiding something."

Gabriella gasped a little shaking her head. Did she know? Did she know about her father, about her life?

"No…no I'm not—"

"Yes are you." Sharpay snapped. "I don't know what it is. But believe me whatever it is…it better not hurt Troy in any way, shape, or form. Whether it be physically, mentally, or career wise."

"I not trying…"

"So you are hiding something.''

"No! I don't want to hurt Troy. I like him. A lot. I would never hurt him on purpose."

Sharpay laughed. "You know he's had girls like you. Wanting to date him just to get in the spotlight."

Gabriella shook her head. "That's not what I—"

"And some have even broken his heart because of it. He always thought that they liked him for him but it always proved wrong. They just wanted his fame, his money."

Gabriella sighed and looked down closing her eyes. She took a deep breath before she looked back up at Sharpay.

"I don't like him because of that. I'll admit that his fame did intimidate me for a while but…I never wanted to be with him because of it."

"Good." Sharpay said walking closer to her. "Because if you hurt him, in any way. I'll make your life a living hell."

Gabriella said nothing. She stood there simply looking at Sharpay. She wasn't really scared of the threat. She lived through hell every day. What possibly could Sharpay do to make it even worse? She watched as Sharpay turned around and walked into the house with determination.

Gabriella sighed loudly pushing her hair away from her face. She faced the pool again a smile forming on her face. "Well this was an interesting day." She said to herself before she made her way back into the house, down the basement stairs and sitting next to Troy.

They continued on practicing, Gabriella singing the Kathleen's part, even with Sharpay staring down at her. She was way more relaxed now that they after their break and everyone noticed. Especially when she settled herself into Troy's arms leaning into him. The practicing of the song continued to get better and better, and by the end of the day they finally got the "never ever" part at the end.

**A/N: Alright ppl…give me the review like ya did last time…and you guys will get a gift…oh and I know ppl are like when is Troy going to find out…he will! I promise!**


	10. Lost All Contact

**A/N: Hey guys thanks for all of the reviews that I got. It made my days...hmm…I was surprised by some of your comments…you guys seem to really hate Gabi's dad…hmm…that was weird lol. Anyways for those who reviewed last chapter here is another gift!**

…**.you all get a new…BLACKBERRY STORM! *reviewers cheer*....congratulations…**

**See this is what you'll get if you review and for you guys that don't well…hmm…maybe you should cause I'll keep givin out gifts for those who review…**

**Okay I think some of you will like this chapter…you know it's been coming**

* * *

Chapter 10

This time Gabriella made sure that she did not forget her book bag that had been sitting in the back of Troy's truck all along. They had had a simple kiss goodbye when Troy dropped her off later that evening, and at that moment Gabriella couldn't get the smile off her face as she entered her house. She felt like she was in a romance movie and couldn't stop twirling around as she made her way into her room. She sat her book bag in her closet, humming the tune to A Night to Remember. She fell on her mattress her eyes close but not from wanting to go to sleep. No she closed her eyes as she remembered. Remembering the feeling that she got deep within her boy as her lips touched his, remembering the way that he held her so close. It was perfect. She laughed out loud and if anyone happened to see her like that they would most likely think she was crazy.

"It was a night to remember." She said out loud before laughing again. "You're so cheesy Gabriella."

She took a deep trembling breath as she thought about the days ahead. She knew she could no longer go periods of time being without him. She needed to find some way to be with him. She knew that he was going to be very busy soon, with the movie, and that pretty soon he was leaving to go on set. Could she handle that? Him not being here…so close to her, well he wasn't that close but he was closer than being across the country. She knew there was no way possible that she would be able to see him. Absolutely no way. Would they break up or would they try the whole long distance relationship thing? She needed to talk to him about it. Had he even thought about it himself?

She sighed. There was a lot to think about, though at that moment the only thing she wanted to think about was her kiss. Her first kiss…well not her first kiss because he had kissed her on the beach but that one didn't count. This was a man to women kiss. The type you read about in books and see in the movies. She bit her lips as she replayed the scene in her mind over and over again, and that scene turned into a dream as she fell quietly asleep.

&&&

Her eyes fluttered opened slowly as she felt her shoulder being shook. She groaned and looked up to see her father looking down at her. He smiled at her and waited until she woke up completely and was sitting up before he spoke.

Gabriella noticed that he didn't seem vicious, or mean…instead he seemed to be very calm and enduring. She wasn't going to fall for it this time. She knew that she had done something wrong. Why else would he wake her? She cringed as he touched her cheek smiling softly.

"I'm home." He said.

Gabriella nodded her head, "How was your trip?"

"I think I got the best I've ever gotten. I've never even heard of this shit…" he said laughing. "Almost knocked me the fuck out."

Gabriella smiled at him. He pulled her arm urging her to get up and she complied.

"Let's go check the house. See how you did." He said, tugging on her arm, making her follow him out her bed room. Gabriella waited patiently as he checked the house nodding his head as he went from room to room flashing her smiles. He commented that he was impressed about how clean his room was and that he should make he do it more often. He then checked her room, running his finger along her dresser and her closet door. His fingers touched the clothes making sure they were all hung up correctly, though how you hand hang a shirt up wrong was something that Gabriella questioned. She noticed as he looked down and paused before sighing and turning around to her smiling.

"Wow sweetheart. You really worked your ass off huh?" he asked pointing to her mattress motioning her to sit down. Gabriella complied.

"Yes…I tried my best."

"That's good."

He sat on down beside her also and Gabriella gave him a questioning look. His eyes narrowed at her and she wiped the look off of her face before looking at the wall across from her. She swallowed tightly, wondering why her father was acting the way that he did?

"What did you do today?"

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders. "I cleaned, like you told me to." She said.

He nodded his head. "Did it take long?"

"Yes."

"That's good. My trip was incredible you know." He said to her, patting her hand. "Next time you should go with me."

"I would love to dad." She said.

He laughed before squeezing her hand slightly. "So…I saw you got your book bag back."

Gabriella eyes widen just a bit before she controlled her emotions. She nodded quickly smiling at him.

"Uh…yeah. It seems like someone found my address in my homework planner and sent it to me today, The mailman wasn't happy carrying around a box all day." She laughed.

"I wouldn't imagine him to be." He said laughing with her.

Gabriella twisted her hands together feeling them get slightly sweaty. She bit her lip, as he reached over and kissed her on the forehead before getting up.

"Well you better turn in. School tomorrow. " he said.

She nodded her head and laid down in his presence.

"I love you baby." He called out to her.

Gabriella felt tears come to her eyes as she called back out to him. "I love you too dad."

&&&

She had been tensed the rest of the night barely sleeping, afraid that he was going to come in and cut off her arm or something but none of that happened. She had an eventless night, besides her leg that stung off and on. That morning she got ready for school as always going to the kitchen to make her a piece of toast, something to hold her over for a while. Her father was sitting at the kitchen table drinking…coffee, vodka…something. She smiled at him as she prepared her toast and sat next to him.

She wondered why he was home. She took a small bit of her toast completely ignoring him. They said nothing to each other while they each finished their breakfast. Gabrilla had a bad feeling that she just couldn't shake, though she couldn't dwell on it because she was going to be late for school. She ate the last piece of toast and was about to stand up before her father placed his hand on hers.

"Wait a second baby." He said.

She sat back down and looked at him, her heart racing.

"Yes dad."

"I wanna show you something."

She watched as he reached slowly in his pocket. What he pulled out and sat on the table had tears fill Gabriella's eyes. She pressed her lips together as she looked at the broken pieces. She felt a little groan escape her before she looked up in her father's eyes. He had no hate in them…he wasn't angry or mad…he looked actually curious about it. Gabriella frowned and looked back down at the table.

"I found it in your room after you went back to sleep. It was lying next to your door." He said. "Where did you get it?"

Gabriella sighed knowing that she couldn't deny that the broken cell phone that was sitting in-between them wasn't hers. That would be pointless.

"I uh…I found it." she said.

"Hmm…who's Troy?"

Gabriella felt a hot tear slid down her cheek before she wiped it away. He knew she was lying. She knew he knew, and she knew, he knew ,she knew. She cleared her throat.

"A friend." She whispered.

"A friend? Why type of friend?"

"Just a friend dad. I promise."

He smiled at her and nodded his head. He picked up the phone that had been snapped in half and threw them over the table where they feel on the floor by the stove. He took another sip of his beverage.

"You better get going. You're going to be late for school."

Gabriella gasped at him before she quickly got up, grabbed her back pack and rushed out of the house. She tried to take in as much air as she could as she rushed to the bus stop. She didn't know what to think. She was scared and surprised. Mad that she had left her cell phone out in the open. Disappointed because she now had no idea how to get in touch with Troy. She pushed her hair away from her face holding it in place for a few moments while she paced in front of the bus stop. He didn't do anything. He didn't do a damn thing but smile and send her on her way. That was way too disturbing for her. Her heart was beating frantically as she continued on wondering what his problem was. She had already believed that he had tried to change his ways once before and she was wrong. She wasn't stupid enough to think that he had tried to change again.

She threw herself down on the bench. What was she going to do?

&&&

The past three days had been hell for her. Every morning she would get up and get ready for school, go to the kitchen to have a bite to eat only to come into contact with her father who sat with her until she finished her breakfast. He said good morning, have a nice day, and kissed her on the head before she left for school. At school she could hardly concentrate because she just knew…something wasn't right. Had he done something to Troy, she had thought through History class. No that was impossible he didn't even know who Troy was. After class she would make her way home only to find that he was still there. He asked her nicely to fix meals for him and to clean the house and never raised a hand to her. She didn't think that he had even left the house. Was he making sure that the only place she went was school?

Not only was she afraid and totally petrified of her father because of the way that he had been acting, Nathan had kept his word and had showed up at her school every day for the past three days. She was nervous, thinking that her father was probably watching her…watching as some guy tried to talk to her so she ignored him as he followed her to the bus stop. He continued to pester her telling her that he wasn't going to leave her alone until she at least went out on a date with him so she could get to know her more. She could cross her arms and make sure not to look at him. He needed no encouragement. She could tell that he was getting a bit discourage on the third day, actually saying that if she didn't get in the car he was going to make her. Luckily the bus came and she hopped on it as fast as she could.

And then she had the whole Troy situation to deal with. She of course hadn't heard from him since Sunday when he dropped her off. She wondered if he had completely forgot about her because she of course wasn't answering any of his calls because the phone was snapped in two. She knew it had been way too good to last. She knew that her being with the famous Troy Bolton was just…luck…and that luck had now sailed. At least she got to keep the memory of their kiss, and the fun that they had together. Yes…she would be able to keep those.

She now sat in the school library during study hall her eyes glued to the computer screen, though she was suppose to be looking up information on Napoleon, she had forgo that topic for something a little bit more interesting.

Her eyes glanced over the picture of Troy who had his shirt off and was smiling. A soft smile formed on her face as she scrolled down on the page. It was something of a fansite, with a gallery of all of Troy Bolton pictures, videos, and a forum for conversation. Gabriella placed her chin in her hand as she directed the mouse towards the tab that said forum.

She had to admit that she was a bit bored, especially since she was going on forums seeing what people were talking about her boyfriend…if he still was. Her eyes scanned the different topics: Are Troy Bolton ab's real? How much do you know about your favorite High School Musical star? If you could take Troy Bolton anywhere in the world and have him by yourself where would you take him? Gabriella laughed at some of the topics. Though her smiled faltered when her eyes read over a particular one.

What do you think about Troy and his new arm candy?

There was a small picture of Troy in his truck holding a McDonalds bag with her bending over with a hoodie over her head.

Arm Candy? She wasn't arm candy. She sighed clicking on tab. If Troy was there right now he would tell her not to look on it…that some people could be viscous and you just had to ignore that kind of stuff, but he wasn't and Gabriella was never told that.

Her eyes read the first entry.

_Troylicious: Okay Troynatics we have a huge problem…if you want to call it that…seems like as soon as our Troy broke up with Kathleen, who we all secretly envy for getting to sleep that awesome specimen of male, he has another girl attached to him. What the hell! He hasn't even been single for a month and this girl has already has her claws in him. What do you think about it….do you support this union…do you even think it's real._

_LickinTroy: Hmm…I don't think it's real…I mean it was only a few weeks after they broke up and he has another girlfriend…it has to be a publicity stunt_

_*kisses*Troy: OMG! I can't believe it my husband has been snatched up again by some…bitch! How dare she…you know I think that it might be real but I think he cheated on Kathleen with her and they get to be out open about it_

_Troys_sex_kitten: Yeah I don't think Troy would date this soon. I mean come on he covered her up for heaven's sake…she must be terribly ugly. _

_Troylicious: Yeah that's what I thought kitten…I mean who covers up their girlfriend…she must be a dog._

_Troys_sex_kitten: and that's not the question…the question is why is he going out with a dog when he can have me. haha_

_LickinTroy: or me_

_*kisses*Troy: Or me!_

_Troysbabe: Wow you guys are harsh you don't even know this girl and you're calling her bitches and stuff._

_Troys_sex_kitten: Oh come on troysbabe… she comes out of nowhere and you expect us to believe that this is legit…hell naw_

_Troylicious: yeah I mean give him some time to get over his break up…stupid home wreaker…._

_Troysbabe: Troy could have been over his break up! It's called moving on and it seems like he did…_

_*kisses*Troy: Yeah with a skank! Haha_

_Troysbabe: I think you guys are just jealous._

_LickinTroy: Jealous?_

_Troylicious: Of what? Being stuck under a hoodie because I'm too ugly to show my face to the paps…haha…I don't think so…_

_Troys babe: I just think that you guys are just talkin shit…she's the one in TROY BOLTON's truck and she's the one with TROY BOLTON's hoodie on her…not you guys…who are just nameless wannabe's on the other side of a computer._

_Troylicious:haha…she's still a skank and home wreaker._

_*kisses*Troy: Yeah I like Kathleen better…or myself…_

_Troys_sex_kitten: lol yeah…I can't wait to see her face…bet she's butt ugly…_

_Troysbabe: you guys are hopeless…._

_Troylicious: hopelessly in love with Troy. _

Gabriella mouth dropped open in shock as she exited out of the webpage. She frowned and her finger tapped quickly on the mouse, but carefully as to not to click it. Tears came to her eyes. So was that how people really looked at her. A skank and a home wreaker? It seemed as though they all hated her except for one…out of that whole dialog there was only one. Of course there were a few more pages but she just couldn't get though them.

Gabriella wiped her eyes with the back of her hands before taking a deep breath. It was just what her father said. No one would ever want her whether it be friend or lover…, she mourned over this for the rest of study hall forgetting about the group of people who actually liked her and that one special boy, as well as the nameless Troysbabe girl.

&&&

Gabriella had finally reached her house after a long day of school and a run in with Nathan. She closed the door softly as she walked into her house. Her father wasn't in the living room like he normally was the past few days. She cleared her throat and called out his name.

"Dad!"

She got no response. She sighed deeply making her way to her room feeling completely depressed. Mostly about Troy. The one guy that she actually thought had liked her was now gone. She would never seem him again. She leaned against her dresser and looked out her window that looked over her back yard and she smiled softly. Her DVD's. She could watch them while her dad was gone. At least she could see him on the screen. It was better than nothing.

She made her way outside, making her way towards the bush that she had hid the pencil box needles and her bag of secrets. She held them both in her hand as she frowned making her way back into the house. She had to figure out a way to get rid of the needles. She didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her carelessness. She closed the back door before tucking the box under her arm and opening her bag. She bit her lip in concentration trying to get it out of the not that she had unfortunately put it in. She tried for a few seconds finally getting a finger though the not, and was able to loosen it up. She smiled as she made her way to her room closing the door as she picked up High School Musical 2 DVD. She sat down on her mattress, placing the pencil filled needles to the side, she opened the case and took the movie out placing it inside of the portable player. She pressed the play button turning the volume down low just in case she heard her father and started to watch the movie.

She didn't think it was weird that she knew every single line in the movie, and was sometimes saying the parts with the cast members. And she didn't think that she singing along with them was weird either. She felt a pang in her heart as she looked how Troy and Kathleen acted on screen. As if there was something more there when they looked at each other. She frowned shaking her head. She wondered if he had ever looked at her that way. She was enthralled by the movie as though she had never seen it before and was surprised when she felt herself blushed at the part when he had his shirt off playing basketball. He was a fine specimen of male, she thought to herself laughing.

She continued to watch the movie and was so into it that she didn't hear or see her bedroom door opening. She laughed at a part before the smile slid off her face, as someone cleared a throat. She looked up to see her father staring down at her. He was leaning against the door with a smile on his face. Gabriella cringed…that smile was defiantly not a smile of a loving parent.

&&&

Troy sat across from Sharpay his eyes glancing over the sheet of paper that he held in front of him. It had been determined long ago since Chad was the first one to buy a house that it was the hang out place. He was laying on the couch his head supported by the arm rest as he listened to Sharpay. Well pretended to listen, though he still heard her. Chad was over at the computer reading multiply stories about him and Taylor on that website. Taylor was upstairs cleaning or cooking or something, and him and Sharpay were going over their lines.

"_Hi Tray…I realized that I haven't offered you my congratulations." _Sharpay started

"_Oh yeah…I'm glad the seasons over soo…" _Troy continued.

"_I didn't mean basketball silly, I meant _Galenia._"_

"_What?"_

"_Her missing the show is a little disappointment but being selected for Stanford's freshman honors program, that is amazing for her and for East High."_

"_I don't know what you're talking about. "_

"_Everyone else does, the whole schools buzzing, the honor kids spend some time at Stanford with the top professors starting next week."_

"_Next week?"_

"_Hmm right there, you really didn't know….okay this is a little awkward. I guess her not telling you means she's on the fence about it. But who better than Tray Belmont to encourage her to accept the honor, since the only thing possible holding her back would be…you. Well I'll see you at rehearsal…tootles. "_

Troy sighed as the finished the small dialog. He placed a hand over his face and shook his head.

"What's wrong Troy?" Sharpay asked.

He said nothing. It had been days. Days since he had spoken to her. She wasn't picking up her phone, didn't return any of his messages. She was completely ignoring him. What the hell did he do? Was it that kiss? Did it have anything to do with that? Troy sighed. He thought that the kiss was wonderful, fantastic. He had never felt that strongly about a kiss since…well…never. Was it something else? He ran that Sunday over and over in his head.

He didn't think that he had done anything wrong. He didn't embarrassed her at all…at least he hoped that he didn't. He gave her a soft and simple kiss goodbye, so not to feel as though he was pressuring him and she had left making her way to her house with a smile on his face. A smile doesn't mean bad does it? He just couldn't think of what he done in order to make her so upset with him that she just didn't want to talk to him….at all.

"Troy come on, concentrate." Sharpay urged, reaching out and shaking his leg.

"I am concentrating." He said moody.

Was it because of Sharpay, and the way she had treated her or was it because of Kathleen? Someone that he didn't want to be with anymore.

"No you're not."

Troy didn't say anything but continued to think.

He missed the looked that Sharpay threw over to Chad who had turned around to look at his best friend. He sighed. Troy had been acting like this since Monday night when he hadn't got to spoken to her at all. He had called Chad, trying to play it cool while asking him questions like, why do you think she hadn't called? And what if she doesn't like me anymore? But Chad knew he was really upset by the whole thing. He had told Troy to just cool off…maybe something came up in her family and she didn't have time to call. Then the next day rolled around then the next and no hearing from Gabriella. Even Chad at this moment was starting to think that something was wrong. Though they weren't all touchy, dovey with each other you could still sense the chemistry between the two.

He looked at his friend and shook his head in pity before standing up and walking over. He smacked his feet getting his attention, before looking down and smiling at him.

"Let's go shoot some hoops."

Troy shook his head. "No. I don't want to."

"You don't want to?" Chad laughed. "Come on you sound like a five year old who doesn't want to take his medicine."

"Really Chad." Troy said. "Maybe I should just go home" he said more to himself.

"No. Come on dude. I haven't played ball with my best friend since forever."

Troy looked up at Chad who had a huge cheesy smile on his face and couldn't help but at least smirk back at him. Maybe if he did get active his mind would get off a particular girl. He groaned as he sat up. He glanced at Sharpay who had her arms crossed and was looking at him with pity.

"What?" he said.

"I told you." She said softly.

Troy grinded his teeth together "Told me what?"

"That she was going to do this. That she was going to hurt you."

"okay!' Chad said trying to stop the conversation "Come on Troy."

But Troy ignored him.

"The only reason that she quote on quote "hurt me" was probably because of you and your big ass mouth."

"I was trying to protect you!"

"I'm a big boy Sharpay! I don't need protecting."

Sharpay stood up also and Chad tugged on Troy's arm trying to get him out of there before they both said something that didn't mean to be said.

"A big boy? Well then act like it. Move on and stop moaning and groaning about some bitch—"

" Bitch? You want to talk about a bitch."

"Yes the bitch. The bitch that only was around you to get something for herself."

"I haven't even given her anything!"

Sharpay sighed. "You gave her your heart."

Troy shook his head and smiled. He just didn't understand what had gotten into Sharpay lately and he was sick of it. "Stay the hell away from Sharpay. I want nothing to do with you anymore."

Sharpay and Chad gasped.

"Dude—" Chad said but Sharpay interrupted him.

"You're going to throw away a friendship over some girl." Sharpay voice yelled. "A girl that might I note, doesn't even like you!"

Troy shrugged his shoulders and watched as tears fell from her eyes. He felt a pang inside him knowing that it was guilt but he ignored it and watched his best friend stand up, grab her purse and stomp out of the room, and up the basement stairs. Troy looked after her not bothering to too call her to come back down to apologize. What gave her the right to say what she said? He pushed his hair out of his taking angry deep breaths.

"Troy." Chad said.

"Let's go play ball." Troy said making his way towards the stairs.

Troy and Chad made their way to the Chad's decent sized back yard which of course had a full basketball court. They played one on one for a while…Troy trying to keep his mind off of everything, yet think of everything also. His mind was so jumbled and confused…he didn't really know what to do.

Troy jumped slightly releasing the ball that swished cleanly thought the net. Chad re-bounded the ball and passed it to Troy.

"You wanna talk about it?" Chad asked blocking Troy.

"Talk about what?" Troy breathes before he faked left and went right throwing the ball in the air and towards the net… "four."

"You know what about." Chad said looking at Troy trying to get around him to make two points, but ended up just making a three.

"No…I don't." Troy now had the ball and was trying to get as close as the net as possible.

"About Gabriella Troy." Chad stopped trying to block him and crossed his arms.

Troy laughed and did a layup shaking his head.

"What is there to talk about?"

"Hmm…I don't know? How about the fact that you haven't heard from your girlfriend in days." Chad said sarcastically.

Troy passed Chad the ball, ready for the offense but Chad stood there with the ball in his hand.

"Come on dude." Troy said smiling

"Troy."

"What."

They stared at each other for a few minutes. Troy wanted to play basketball…that's why he was outside in the first place. That's why he was standing in a basketball court. He didn't want to talk and he especially didn't want to talk about Gabriella. Especially since she didn't want him…at least that's what he thought. He looked at Chad who had a questioning look on his face. He wasn't going to let up…at all…

"She doesn't want me anymore." Troy said placing his hands on his hips breathing deeply, trying to fill air into his lungs because of the running.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because dude…like you said I haven't heard from her."

Chad nodded his head slowly. "Maybe it's something else."

"Yeah like what?"

"I don't know. But maybe—"

"I doubt it."

Troy pushed his hair out of his face, and swiped the sweat from his face.

"Well then…" Chad shrugged. "You deserved to know why she stopped talking to you."

"Huh?''

"Well…you can't call her why don't you just go to her house."

Troy swallowed deeply. He knew that Gabriella didn't really want her actually going up to her house because of her father. A scowl formed on his lips. Was she embarrassed by him? Yeah okay so maybe fathers were a bit…strict but still. Besides…if this was ending like he thought it was it really wouldn't hurt to actually go to her house, would it?

He sighed and looked over at Chad. "You gotta go with me."

"What do I look like? A girl that needs to be there for emotional support."

Troy didn't smile but instead walked off the court and yelled back at Chad.

"Exactly."

Chad had yelled to Taylor that he and Troy were on their way out to pick up a few things from the store. Troy climbed into his truck as Chad climbed into the passenger seat. Chad had thrown on a hoodie and had the hood up covering his face. Troy had a ball cap on with sunglasses. It wasn't the best disguise but it would work for now…just in case they would run into the paps…you could never be too safe.

Troy didn't say one word as he drove the long distance to Gabriella's house. He was in fact thinking of the words that he would say to her when he saw her. Would he yell and be angry or would he drop on his knees and beg for her to take him back? He really didn't know how his reaction would be until he got there. All he knew was that he wanted answers.

He could understand that their relationship was a bit off when they started…him asking he to be his girlfriend just a few weeks of knowing each other…but still he wanted to take it as serious as possible. He wanted her as soon as he sat eyes on her. He didn't know what it was about her…maybe she was his soul mate...maybe fate just dropped her right in front of him and said here she's yours love her and care for her. Love.

Troy sighed heavily at that. He didn't know if he loved her or not…and that might sound a bit bad towards some people but it was the truth. He didn't want to fake himself out by thinking that he loved her when they had only been dating a short while. They really had no major…major arguments where their relationship was tested…they had only kissed a few times…one where she was absolutely horrified that he even touched her. So was he in love?

He would admit that every time he thought about her a smile would come to his face. Or every time he talked to her or was around her his heart would beat fast. That he got chills every time he touched her…that the thought of losing her would be…devastating.

Troy had said he loved Kathleen before but he was starting to think if that was real love or not. He did get over her pretty quick and rarely thought about her anymore. So was that love? Hell he didn't know what love was…so how could he know if she was in love with her or not.

"What are you thinking about?" Chad asked.

Troy shrugged his shoulders "About what I'm going to say to her when I see her." he said leaving out the whole, do I love her, part.

"You just have to be strong." Chad said.

Troy nodded his head and continued to drive. After a while Troy finally turned on Hazelwood Avenue. His truck made the familiar drive towards Gabriella's house and the curb that was right in front of it. Troy sighed loudly as he parked in front of it and looked up at the two story house.

"Man." He sighed.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Chad asked looking at the house also.

"No. I'll go by myself."

"What if she's not home?"

Troy took out his phone and scrolled down his contacts until he found the name Gabriella. He took a deep breath and pressed the talk button. He sat there his eyes on the house, his phone to his ear as it rung four times before going to her voicemail. Troy pressed his lips tightly together.

"Gabi this is Troy…I'm at your house and I'm coming to see you right now." He growled into the phone before getting out of the car slamming the door shut.

He made his way up the paved walk way that had little purple flowers along the side of it. The grass was cut nicely and he noticed two cars in the driveway. Must be her parents, he thought remember that she didn't have a car and ad to catch the bus. He stood on the porch and looked at the large wood and glass door. He noticed a plastic duck sitting on the porch with a red and white polka dot apron on. He took a deep breath and pressed his finger lightly to the doorbell. Hearing it ring.

He waited for a few seconds before pushing it again. No one answered. He looked back at Chad who shrugged his shoulders and made a knocking signal with his hands. Troy groaned and started to knock on the door. Three times. No one answered. Troy scoffed and looked at the cars. Someone had to be there. He knocked again.

"Gabriella!" he called out. "I'm not leaving until I speak to you."

Troy knocked even harder on the door. "Come on Gabi! Please I just wanna talk." He called out as he continued on knocking.

Troy took a stepped back and looked up at the house sighing. She must have told her parents that she didn't want to see him so they were ignoring him. He groaned light before kicking of the little plastic duck that was sitting on the porch. He made his way back down the walkway.

"Can I help you?"

Troy turned around with a relived breath before he walked back to the door. He smiled at the man who seemed to have a good spirit about him. He didn't look like the type of man who wouldn't let her daughter date…probably a little protective but nothing extreme like never dating. He had dark almost black hair and was tanned…really tanned…he kinda looked like a ken doll. He smiled up at the man holding his hand out for him to shake.

"Hi Mr. Montez. Um…I'm Troy Bolton. Gabriella's…friend, and I was uh …wondering if she was home."

The man gave him a questioning look.

"Gabriella?"

"Yes. Is she here? I would really like to talk to her. Tell her I'll stay here all night until I speak with her."

The man laughed.

"Well I would tell her that except I have no idea who you're talking about. Plus I'm not Mr. Montez."

Troy frowned at him. "What? Gabriella? You're daughter."

The man shook his head. "No. She doesn't live here. Maybe you have the wrong house."

"No…no…" Try said shaking his head and looking away from the man. "This is where I drop her off at…she always walk up this walkway and into the house."

"Have you ever seen her actually come into my house?"

Troy sighed and shook his head. "No…but she said there was a side door she goes through…" Troy said remember one of the many conversations he had with her about why she didn't go through the front door. She said it was because the side door was closer to her room.

"I'm sorry son. There really isn't a Gabriella here."

Troy nodded at the man who smiled and closed the door. He stood there more a moment looking up at the house wondering if the man was telling the truth or not. He turned back and around and made his way slowly back to his car with a thoughtful look on his face.

Everything was completely….weird! If she wasn't living in that house then where in the hell did she live? She was still trying to figure out the fact that the girl…his girlfriend…that he had been dropping off in the same place for days and days did not live in the house he pictured himself going into to introduce himself to her father.

He got slowly into the truck but didn't start it up…his eyes still searching the house trying to see though the windows to see if she was looking out or something…anything.

"Dude what happened?" Chad asked a worried look on his face.

Troy shook his head and shrugged. "There is no Gabriella that lives there…she doesn't live there."

Chad mouth dropped open as he looked back at the house, "Are you sure I mean maybe that man you were talk to was lying."

"No. No. He was telling the truth…he seemed genuine."

Troy placed his forehead on the steering wheel and groaned. "What the fuck and I'm going to do now. My girlfriend is unattainable…I can't reach her through cell phone. I never got her email address, she lied to me about where she lies so I can't even see her, and I just….Shit!" She hit the steering wheel hard with his hands before taking a deep breath. "That the fuck am I going to do Chad." He asked again.

Chad looked at his friend and shook his head. They needed to find out something. Maybe they could Google her…the only thing about that was she was a underage and doubted her name would pop up anyways, and she mentioned nothing about having a myspace or anything like that. Chad placed a hand on his friends shoulder.

"It'll be alright dude. We'll figure out something."

"What? I'm leaving in about three weeks, and after that I might not ever see her again." Troy said.

Chad sighed. He looked back towards the house and a smile formed on his face.

"What the fuck are you smiling about?"

"What school did she say she went too?"

Troy thought back to their many conversations…one of them particularly about school.

"Jefferson High. Why."

Cha smiled got even bigger. "School records."

"O…kay…"

"Dude If we can find a Jefferson High around here then maybe she's there, and if not we can get her school records."

Troy rolled his eyes at his best friend. "There is no way in hell a school is going to give us one of their students…school records…that stuff is like under protection and stuff."

Chad motioned for Troy to start the car.

"I don't even know where it's at Chad."

Chad scoffed and pointed at the small screen that was above Troy's player.

"What the hell is that?"

"A GPS System?" Troy said with a shrug. "Dude I don't even know how to work that. "

"Well it's a good thing I do." Chad said pressing the button to turn it on. "Come on Troy we don't have all day we have a girl to hunt down. "

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**A/N: Okay it was a bit short but…yeah…how did you like it…tell me don't be afraid. And don't forget if you review you get that Blackberry! **


	11. Mission Possible

**A/N: What can I say but thank you guys for all the reviews…how are that blackberry storm workin for ya…good huh..for those who reviewed last chapter here is your gift you get a…**

**A 60INCH LCD TELVISION! *reviewers applause* your welcomed.**

**Okay on to business some people asked that the house that Gabriella had been getting dropped off at was her house or not…no it wasn't. If you noticed I never really gave any description of her house when it was in her point of view. And dealing with the fake house. She had always told Troy that she went through a side door because it was closer to her room when actually she would just walk from the people yard towards her own house. **

**Oh and another person ask me what Kathleen might look like…I would have to say she might look like Minka Kelly, why…hmmm…I don't know I really like Minka Kelly but her looks just fit the part for how I want Kathleen to look…cute and stuff like how Vanessa plays Gabriella…sooo yeah…**

**I have to say that some of your reviewers for the last chapter…wow…you guys were really pissed at Gabi's dad…and was like into it like hurry up and update and shit…I was like god okay I'll update just don't hit me…so here's an update…I think you're going to like it.**

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Chapter 11

Troy pulled up to Jefferson High with a rolling of his eye. He had no idea what Chad was going to do once they got in. Chad had said nothing about his plan. Instead he had sat there looking as though he was deeply thinking. Troy himself didn't know what to do. He had just learned that he had been dropping his girlfriend off at her fake house, and that he had no way possible to get in contact with her. He didn't know what he would do if this little school thing didn't work out. Maybe he could find some of friends. The only problem with that was he didn't know any of her friends. She never talked about them at all. He sighed and shook his head with a scowl on his face.

Sharpay was right. She was hiding something. Troy didn't even want to think about what it was. Was she from a low income family? Was that the reason she faked her living quarters? That had to be the reason. Maybe that was why she was so set against them being together. Because she felt uncomfortable with the money thing. He would have to talk to her about that. He didn't care if she wasn't rich. That wasn't why he wanted her. He didn't care at all. All he cared about was actually being with her. That's all. But first he needed to find her. And it seemed that the closer he got…the more weird the things he found out.

"There it is." Chad said.

Troy looked at the long three story brick building. It was a pretty big high school. He parked behind a line of cars and studied it. It seemed like classes were in session because he saw no students out on the grounds. The grass was a bit dried and there was a janitor out picking up the trash that students had left behind.

"She has to be here." Chad said. "I mean it's an hour before school's over…we should have came here first."

Troy nodded his head. But then if he had come to the school first he would have never found out about her little secret. Troy sighed as he turned off his truck and looked at Chad.

"So, what's your plan?" he asked him.

Chad scratched his ear and smiled, "Well…I don't really have a plan per se …"

Troy glared at him. "You said you had a plan—"

"Look! I have a plan it just might not work well…but it might."

"And what would that plan actually be?"

"Okay you go in and ask if Gabriella has been in."

Troy looked at him with disbelief. "That's your famous plan? Ask if she's in school?"

"No…look I'll be with you but I'll be in the background. Ask if she's in school…if she is then we wait until school lets out. If not then…then you ask the secretary for a tour of the school."

"Why would I do that?"

"To get her out of the office so I can sneak in there and get her records. You should be able to get her out of the office with your charms. "

Troy rolled his eyes. "That has to be the most stupid plan I've ever heard. First of all…what if the secretary is a man, and what if she recognized me and—"

"Dude! Do you want to find Gabriella or not.?" Chad snapped at him. "Because I'm all up for going home and forgetting about her if you are."

Troy glared at him. "I'm not forgetting about her. I just want to know why she hasn't called…"

"So you're not together anymore."

"Of course we are..." Troy frowned. "I mean…I am…I don't know about her…"

"Dude, "Chad sighed. "You either want to find her or not."

Troy nodded his head instantly. "I do."

Chad patted his head to make sure his hood up before looking at Troy. "Let's rock this bitch."

Troy got out the car smiling. "Isn't that from Mean Girls?" He asked with a raised eye brow.

"What? Taylor loves that movie."

"Hmmm."

Troy eyes scanned the schools windows. She had to be in there. In one of those classrooms was sitting his girlfriend who was probably paying as much attention as she could to the teacher, maybe she was taking a test or quiz, maybe she was watching a movie. He felt as though he was getting closer. He glanced over at Chad his eyes narrowing a little. He had said that he had forgotten about her. There was no way. Yeah maybe he was a little upset that she hadn't called him or anything, but there was no way that he would forget about her. He wanted some explanation as to why she felt the need not to call him. He missed her. Yeah granted that it was only a couple of days but man did they seem like weeks. He didn't know how he was going to survive when he left for shooting the movie.

"Wow pretty big school." Chad said as they entered following the sign that said office.

Troy nodded. His eyes scanned a bulletin board that had announcements on there. Graduation practice, prom, student of the week, game schedules and a lot more. His eyes then glanced over at the trophy case that held a good amount of trophies some even dated back from 1964. They finally reached the office. They peeked in to see who all was in there.

"See a secretary…and she's female." Chad said. "She looks young enough to know you."

Troy rolled his eyes. "Chad she looks like she's in her late thirties or something…I doubt she goes around watching High School Musical."

"How the fuck do you know." Chad pushed Troy. "Go, ask about Gabriella or ask for a tour of the school. And don't forget to use some of that Troy Bolton charm."

Troy rolled his eyes and walked into the school's office. He took his sunglasses off hoping that maybe if she recognized him, his fame would get him what he wanted. He knew it was wrong but he was in a dire situation. He walked up to the secretary who sat behind a high counter and smiled. She was an attractive older woman, blonde hair that was pulled back in a loose pony tail. She wasn't the skinniest person every, but she was curvy and seemed to be proportioned right. She had on a stylish pant suit. This wasn't what Troy expected. He expected a grey mean woman that would have scared the crap out of him. It was possible to get what he needed from her.

"Hi. Can I help you?" She asked in cheery voice.

"Um…yeah." Troy bit his lip not really knowing where he should start off. "Um… I was looking for my uh...student."

"Student?"

"Uh...well not a real student I mean I tutor her in….Chemistry." Troy said.

"Chemistry?"

"Yep."

The secretary gave him a questioning look. "Where do you come from?"

"I'm sorry."

"A school, business…?"

"Uh…privet. Her dad um…hired me."

She nodded her head slowly. "Okay…What's the student's name and I can call for her."

Troy smiled, he felt as though his heart had suddenly was weightless. "Gabriella Montez."

She went over to a switchboard pressing a few buttons before speaking into a microphone. "Gabriella Montez will you please report to the office. Gabriella Montez, to the office."

"Thanks."

Troy stood back from the counter and waited until she showed up. He was nervous…more than nervous. He obviously didn't want to talk to her right here in front of the secretary. And he didn't think she would be able to go off of school grounds…they would find some place then he would get the answers to his many questions. He wondered what Chad was doing out in the hall all by his lonesome…probably getting into something he should be getting into. Troy shook his head at the thought before a phone rang.

He looked over at the secretary who picked up the phone.

"Yes….oh hi Mr. Hudson…oh really…and there was no call…okay I will call her parents as soon as possible…thank you." She hung up the phone. She motioned for Troy to come to her.

"It seems as though Gabriella hasn't been at school today. Their parents are suppose to call to confirm but that their child won't be coming in but her's didn't and her father usually does. If they don't call we usually call them, which I need to do…but I'm sorry."

Troy sighed and bit his lip trying to think of something off the top of his head. Now he needed her address and of course he couldn't ask her. She probably thought he already knew it plus she probably wouldn't give it to him. Time to bring Chad in. He rolled his eyes to himself.

"Well uh…Miss…."

"Constance."

"Constance. I was wondering if you could give me a tour of the building."

"A tour?"

"Yes, I uh…well I was thinking about transferring here after Gabriella talked about liking it here so much. Plus it seems as though your school has so many activities and this to do. My current school only has…band."

"It only has band?"

"Hmm. Yeah."

Troy watched as she tapped a pencil on the counter. "Where are your parents? Shouldn't they be here also, to take the tour also?"

"Well if I can see the school for myself I can convince them better. And if I can convince them, I can then attend the school that has the coolest and prettiest secretary." He said smiling at her.

Troy thought at first that she thought that he was stupid because she looked at him that way. But then she smiled and blushed a little and he nodded his head in triumph.

"Well…I guess…What did you say your name was?" She said coming from around the counter and grabbing a folder.

"My name…umm…Chad Evens." He said wincing to himself. Chad Evans? Why would he mix Chad and Sharpay/Ryan together. He smiled at Miss. Constance as she walked out of the office. Troy followed. His eyes glanced around to see Chad leaning against the wall with his head down and his hood covering his face. He smirked at him as they past. Miss. Constance stopped in front of him.

"Aren't you suppose to be in class young man?"

Chad didn't lift his head but instead nodded and walked down the hall. Troy scoffed under his breath as Miss. Constance shook her head and continued on with the tour.

Chad turned the corner and once again leaned against the wall, chuckling a little. He had heard the whole conversation with Troy and Miss. Constance. He had done well…telling her that she was the coolest and prettiest secretary…okay well that might have been a little cheesy but it still worked.

He leaned forward to look around the corner to make sure they were gone, and he didn't noticed when a hand taped him on his shoulder. He looked up to see a man twice as big as he was and probably like five hundred pounds…okay well not that big but he was big. He smiled up at the man, while he just crossed his arms.

"What are you doing outside of class?"

Chad mouth dropped open…he was just going to nod and walk away again. He didn't think he would have to actually answer a question. He sighed.

"Um…I guess I'm skipping class." Chad said thoughtfully.

The teacher narrowed his eyes at Chad before taking something out of his pocket. Chad watched as he quickly wrote something down.

"What's your name young man?"

Chad scoffed. " Ryan…Bolton." He said a little smile coming to his face.

"Detention. After school." He said handing Chad a slip of pink paper.

"Detention! I didn't even do anything wrong."

"You were skipping. Like you told me."

Chad frowned, "Does it have to be today? I have stuff that needs to be done."

"Of course then I can call your mother and tell her how you skipped class and then detention."

Chad grumbled under his breath and sneered at the teacher.

"Now…get to class and don't let me see you out here again."

Chad scoffed as he snatched the pink slip away from the teacher as the teacher walked away. He looked down at the pink slip and frowned. Yeah Taylor was going to be so mad that he got detention today.

&&

Troy walked quickly out of the school wanting to get away from it as quickly as possible. That tour had lasted a bit longer than he thought and he had to pretend that he got a call from his 'parents' and had to leave early. Miss. Constance had shown him almost every part of the school. The only memorable event that happened was when they walked pass a set of lockers, a girl had walked past with her eyes wide. Troy knew this was going to be a problem. He tried to brace himself as he suddenly heard a loud scream from her lips. She had started to make her way over to him before she just passed out. Just like that. Right in front of them.

Miss. Constance was shocked and had Troy help the poor girl to the nurse's office.

He saw his truck and prayed that Chad was in there. If he wasn't then they were probably going to both go to jail for stealing students records.

He reached his truck and looked in only to see Chad leaning against the head rest with his eyes closed. Troy opened the door and started the car taking off before he even spoke, wanting to make a safe get away.

"You have her address?"

Chad jumped a little as though he was shocked Troy was even there. He dug into his hoodie pocket and produced a piece of folded up paper.

"Umm…Gabriella Montez, 3242 Hillcrest Street."

Troy sighed, "Well put the address in the GPS."

It wasn't long after they had put the address in, got a little lost because GPS started acting weird, being a tad bit late after they already passed the streets that they were suppose to turn on , that they had finally made it on Hillcrest street. It was nothing how he imagined. While Hazelwood was like the picture perfect neighborhood, with it's clean, green grass, and their white picket fences, along with their two story houses with flowerbed leaning the way, this was anything but.

The roads were horrible and a little torn up with potholes everywhere. Troy had to drive slowly just to not mess his truck up. The houses were a bit on the small side. Some were really small and Troy could swear it was only one room. They were raggedy also with paint chipping off the houses, shutters hanging off, if they even had shutters to began with. The grass was a mixture of dry and green, though most of it was dry. They weren't many cars parked at the houses, which Troy wasn't really surprised at. There were no trees on the street. Not one. It didn't look like a dangerous neighborhood just an extremely poor one.

"Here it is."Chad announced.

Troy followed the direction that Chad pointed and held his breath. This was where she lived. This was her secret, what she tried to hide from him. Yes granted it wasn't the most beautiful house…hell it actually looked pretty horrible but that really didn't matter to him. All that mattered was the girl that lived inside that raggedy old house. He cut off his truck and looked at his steering wheel.

He was nervous. Beyond nervous. Part of the nerves was that she was going to be upset at him for going all mission impossible about where she lived. Another part of him was nervous because he thought that maybe she just didn't want to see him again and decided to break up with him. His stomach turned at that. He knew that people probably thought that their relationship was a fake…he wasn't stupid. He knew there were blogs and tabloids out there that said that but it wasn't. He liked her so much and Troy somehow knew that they belonged to each other. Maybe one day they would love each other. But first he needed to find out some answers and one of those was if she still wanted to be with him.

"You alright dude?" Chad asked.

Troy nodded. "Will…will you come with me?"

He didn't know why he asked Chad. Probably just for some support or something.

"Yeah dude."

They got out of the truck and made their way slowly up the upturned walk way where the concrete was broken. You had to watch your step. They finally reached the door and Troy glanced at the house. It was like a light yellow which looked like it could have been white when first built. There were beer bottles scattering the porch as well as many lighters. There was a small window broken which had plastic taped on it too keep the air as well as bugs out. Troy gulped.

It wasn't like he was judging or anything like that because he wasn't. He just thought that he would die if he had to live in a house like this. It suddenly made him very thankful for what he had in his life. And it also made him think that Gabriella probably hated this house also seeing how she kept it a secret and everything. He took a deep breath.

"What's wrong?" Chad asked him.

"Nothin. Just uh…nervous."

Chad nodded his head with understanding. Troy looked at the door and placed his knuckles against it getting ready to knock until Chad pushed his hand away. Troy glared at Chad giving him a strange look.

"What the hell Chad."

"Do you hear that?" Chad said looking up at the house.

"Hear what?"

They were both quiet for a moment. Troy did not hear anything. Chad eyes suddenly widen.

"That!"

"No, Chad I don't hear anything."

Troy was getting ready to knock again until Chad once more pushed his hand away.

"Chad—"

"You don't hear that. It sounds like yelling and…"

Troy closed his eyes and gave out a big sigh trying to listen to what Chad had supposedly heard.

"I don't hear—Chad! Where are you going?"

Chad had made his way off the porch and walked started walking around the side of the house. Troy groaned and followed him.

"Chad what are you doing?" He whispered.

"I want to find out where the sound is coming from." Chad whispered back.

"God Chad, we're this is not a FBI mission or shit. Why can't I just—" Troy cut off as he heard a loud crash.

Both he and Chad looked at each other with wide eyes. Troy mouth dropped open a bit before nodding to Chad to continue walking. The crouched along the house as though they were agents, just in case someone from the house would see them. It would be hard to explain why they were sneaking around the house. Troy noticed that the side wasn't any better than the front, with even more beer cans littering the ground. Chad nudged Troy and pointed up to a window.

It was low enough that if they stood straight up they would be able to see into the house but they didn't want to take that chance.

"You stupid bitch!" they heard a man yell.

"I'm sorry." A voice cried.

Troy looked over at Chad and mouthed. "That's Gabi." Chad nodded his head.

"First you lie to me about being home all day Sunday."

"I didn't lie I was here!"

"Cut the bullshit Gabriella. Then you tell me some fucked up story about the mailman delivering your book bag. It was a Sunday Gabriella, the fucking mailman doesn't run on a Sunday."

No answer.

"And then I find out that you've been talking to some bastard, and not only that you managed to get a fucking cell phone without my knowledge!"

"I'm so sorry dad. I was just--, please…I was just…and…."

"Just like your fucking mother a liar and a bitch."

"I'm sorry…please…dad…"

"God Gabriella! You've made me so angry. Angry enough to…to…"

Troy and Chad lifted their heads up slowly looking into the low window. It was the kitchen window. A big burley looking man had his back to the window. Troy couldn't see Gabriella, she was probably standing in front of him. His eyes widen as the man took a hold of her arm and swung her around, making her bump into a counter. Her breath held as he watched the man close in on her. He could feel his heart beating rapidly beneath his chest. Both he and Chad froze as the man lifted his hand and slapped Gabriella. He had slapped her so hard that she felt down on the floor hitting her head on the stove. Troy gasped and his breathing became irregular as he saw the man pick her up by her hair and slap her again just as hard. Gabriella laid there liked a rag doll. She didn't move and had her eyes tightly shut. Troy felt tears of frustration come to his eyes as he watched the scene play out in front of him.

"My god…" Chad whispered.

Troy suddenly turned the other way slowly until he was out of line with the window. He stood up fully preparing to go to the front door and knock it down and beat that motherfucker's ass. What the hell was his fucking problem beating on his daughter that way? Troy had never felt the angry that was inside of his chest right now, nor the pain, or worry. He wanted to kill him. Literally kill him for what he just did to Gabriella. Did he do this all the time? If he did…well then it gave Troy all the more right to kill the bastard.

Troy just about reached the door when He felt himself being drawn back, and being turned around.

"Whoa! Dude,what are you doing?"

"I'm going to get Gabriella from that fucking bastard." Troy said pushing Chad away and continuing to the door. Chad grabbed him again.

"Troy! You can't. Did you just see what he did to her? He knocked her out like she was a fucking man."

"Well I'm a man; it wouldn't be that hard to fight him-."

"Did you see the size of him?"

"Chad. My girlfriend basically just got punched in the face by her father and you don't want me to do anything."

"No, it's not that, I just don't want you to do anything rash."

"Rash!" Troy tried to take some deep breaths, but it just wasn't going.

"Look why don't we call the police." Chad said.

"No. By the time they get here it might be too late. What if he kills her?"

Chad said nothing but just looked up at the house a hand on Troy.

Troy closed his eyes. Breathing hard and fast. He pressed his lips together angrily. All he wanted was to pound that asshole. If he could just do that. If Chad would just let him go.

"Okay. Well get her, but without her father knowing."

Troy looked at Chad and nodded with any hesitation. He didn't have time to argue with Chad about one of his plans. Right now all he wanted was to get Gabriella out of there and then maybe go back to beat that fuckers ass.

"It's a one story house. The windows all seem to be low. Maybe we can sneak in her room or something."

Troy sighed. "In her window. We'd have to look through all the windows."

"You think you could tell which room might be hers."

Troy shrugged. "I don't know let's just check. If we can't tell I'm just going in Chad. I mean it."

Chad nodded and they once again set off around the house. They glanced in the kitchen window once more to still see Gabriella and her father there. She was still on the floor and he had just dumped water on her face. Whether it was cold or hot he couldn't tell but she let out a loud gasp.

"That fucking—"

"Troy, come on!" Chad whispered fiercely to him.

They continued to follow around the house checking each window. They checked a bathroom, a window that was at the end of a hallway since Troy could see the front door on the other side. They finally got to one of the rooms. It was big and clean. The bed had to at least be a queen size with a nice comforter. It was decorated in rich browns and blacks. Troy frowned. The room was pretty nice. Too nice to be in a house like that. He shook his head towards Chad telling him that it wasn't the right room. They finally made their way to a window in the back which was in the corner. Toy peeked inside and smiled to himself. He could tell it was her room because he saw a case of High School Musical lying on the floor.

"Okay this is her room."Troy said to Chad.

Chad lifted his hand to the window and pushed up, looking at Troy with wide eyes, gasping a little. "It's open." He pushed it up as far as it could go.

Troy nodded his head. "Okay give me a boost. I'm going in."

"Now! Won't you wait until she comes in?"

"Because I don't want to…I want in now. "

Chad sighed. Try grabbed a hold of the small ledged and pulled himself up with the help of Chad pushing him up. It wasn't a high window so he wasn't straining to get in. He sat up on the small ledge and placed a leg on the other side, inside the room. He looked around the room and frowned. It was a small room, with nothing but a closet, a small dresser, and a mattress. Troy mouth dropped a little. A mattress. Just a twin mattress that was lying on the floor. It had no bed rails or headboard; it was just on the floor. Troy threw his other leg in and sat his feet on the floor. His eyes still on the small mattress that was on the floor. She had to be cold at night. He picked up the thinn comforter…if you wanted to call it that. It looked more like a sheet to Troy. He twisted it in his hands and shook his head before throwing it down.

He walked to the door which was closed and pressed his ear against it. He could hear her father still yelling. That meant they were still in the kitchen. He looked around for something to hit the motherfucker with if he came in. He bent down and picked up the DVD case of high school musical. He smiled down at the case. He couldn't believe that she was still watching the movies after being with him. Not that it was a bad thing. He just thought it was kinda sweet she was still watching his movies.

Troy shook his head. This was not the time to be thinking that something was sweet or not. He looked around the small room…maybe it was a bad idea to wait in here. His head snapped towards the door as he heard a loud bang and he had to resist the urge to run out there to see what was wrong. He pressed his lips together tightly and made his way towards her closet. It was a bit small but he was able to walk in. He would hide in there until he made sure she was alone. He tried to shut the door all the way but there just wasn't enough room. He held the door as close as he could to him, peeking though the small gap.

It felt as thought it was forever that he spent in that closet but he knew it was only a couple of minutes. Her door room suddenly slammed open and Troy actually jumped a little. He watched though the gap as Gabriella was pushed into her room falling on the floor with her hands and knees, tears falling down her soft face. She was drenched with water and Troy swallowed hard making sure not to make any noise.

"I'll be back for you later." He heard her father say, "I'm disappointed in you Gabriella. I thought that after all this time…."

Troy rolled his eyes…all this time…so this was happening for a while…

He heard the door slam close but he didn't move. His heart was beating hurtfully in his chest. He didn't know what he would say to her…what he would do…A soft sob snapped him out his thought and he took a deep breath and slowly walked out the closet. She was still on the floor, still on her hands and knees, looking at the ground, shaking slightly.

He took a trembling breath.

"Gabi." He whispered.

She snapped her head up and her eyes widen…so big that Troy was sure they were going to fall out. She stayed on the floor and her mouth dropped open as her eyes scanned his body. Troy walked slowly to her clearing his throat. He bent down to her.

"Gabi." He said again. He reached out to her but she moved away from him her eyes still wide.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered fiercely.

"I—"

"What the hell are you doing here Troy!" her breath was beginning to become ragged and it seemed as though she was going to cry even harder.

"I've been searching to you all day." He said trying to explain. "I was worried."

"About?"

"You."

She shook her head and closed her eyes. "You need to go…now!" she whispered.

"I'm not leaving without you." He said to her.

He watched as she stood up and walked to the other side of her room…even if it was pretty small.

"Are you crazy." She asked. "You need to go now…before….before…"

"Before you father comes back."

She said nothing. Troy watched as she closed her eyes again and pushed her wet hair out of her face. She looked horrible. Tears fell down her face and Troy walked towards her again, once again she back away.

"No Troy…you need to go."

"I told you I'm not going."

"Why are you here?"

"I miss you and I want to get you away from here."

"Why…" she asked with a confused look.

Troy scoffed. "Why? Gabriella you father just beat the shit out of you…that's why."

She shook her head. "He was just…I was just…he wasn't beating me."

"Yeah cause being slapped across the face so hard that you hit a metal stove isn't a beating." Troy said sarcastically.

They were both quiet for a moment and Troy took the time to listen to see if her father was anywhere near her room. He didn't hear anything and he looked back at Gabriella. She looked torn and defeated. Like nothing would ever be right again. He felt his heart break. Why did this have to happen to her…of all people…her.

"Gabriella? Please. I promise if you just come with me…"

"Promise what Troy" she snapped at him.

"I promise that no one will ever lay a hand on you again."

She scoffed at him though, he saw a little hope flutter in her eye. "Really? And how would you carry that promise through."

"By making sure you'd never have to see him again."

He watched as she watched with a curious look on her face. Tears continued to fill her eyes and she crossed her arms around herself.

"I can't. You should go."

"No!" Troy snapped at her. She was being so stubborn.

"I was in the wrong, I deserved—"

"Like hell you do!"

"You need to go."

"I swear Gabriella if you say that one more time—"

"What you're going to hit me?" she said with a smile on her face.

Troy frowned at her and shook his head in disbelief. "I would never." He whispered to her. "I would never lay a hand out of anger on you Gabi."

She herself frowned and uncrossed her arms.

"Please just come with me and I promise I'll figure it all out. Everything." He pleaded with her. "You have to trust me that I will not let something bad happen to you. Just come with me."

She looked towards her door and sighed fresh tears coming to her eyes. "You know." She whispered to him. "I think he's planning on killing me tonight."

Troy gasped but said nothing. He wanted to believe that maybe she was taking things way out of perspective but when he looked into those hazel eyes…he realized that she really thought that, that was true. He couldn't even comprehend someone actually murdering someone. Yeah he watched the news and listened to how someone was gunned down or murdered but it didn't seem as real until you were part of that party. He could feel tears come to his own eyes but he held them back. He needed to be strong if not only for her but for himself.

He looked at the girl that he had become so infatuated with. She stood there her hair a mess, and wet…tangled and coarse looking. Her face was swollen and blotchy with red spots, as well as wet with tears. She held herself with such a disconsolate look, as if nothing could ever be right in the wrong. She wore a light blue tee shirt with a pair of jeans which were both wrinkled. Troy smiled softly…she was still so beautiful to him. He walked over to her with his hands outstretched but she back away again.

He felt a little rejected but figured that right now she needed her space…and time…but time was a factor. He wanted to get her out of this hell before Satan himself came back.

"Soo…" she barely whispered her voice cracking. "Where am I going to go." She asked.

Troy realized a hard breath and smiled at her nodding his head. "Well go somewhere where he'll never find you, Gabi. I promise."

She nodded her head and closed her eyes tightly. She wrapped her arms around her and rocked back and forth. "I'm so scared." She said. "I'm scared Troy."

"I know baby." He whispered "and I swear that once we get out of here we can talk…but I have to get you out of here first okay."

It took her a few seconds to nod her head but she finally did. Troy felt a little weight being lifted off his chest not all of it but a little.

"Is there anything you want to take with you. Anything you value."

He watched as she looked around the room and shook her head fresh tears once again forming in her eyes. "No…sad huh…I don't have one thing in my life that I value."

Troy shook his head but said nothing on the matter…he would talk to her later.

"Okay…well maybe we should go." He said trying to encourage her to move.

She smiled suddenly. "Should we walk out the front door." She laughed.

Troy smiled tightly; he didn't think anything was a laughing matter right now. "I was thinking the window."

He walked towards her until he was right in front of her. He grabbed her arm softly and led her to the window. He was surprised that she let him do so. She still had her arms crossed and walked stiffly over to the window. He looked out and saw Chad pressed against the house. He saw that he was a little pale even with his somewhat darker skin.

"Are you alright?" Troy whispered to him.

He nodded his head and walked towards them. Troy looked back at Gabriella.

"Come on, babe bend down, and go through the window."

He placed his hand on her back and had to push her slightly so she could bend. She placed a leg outside of the window and Troy held her arm so she wouldn't fall.

"Hold Chad, Gabi." He said softly.

Chad grabbed a hold of Gabriella placing both of her hands on his shoulders and lifted her though the window. Troy watched as she got fully through the window and Chad sat her down on the ground. As soon as he did she back away from him. She had her head down and her arms wrapped around her.

Chad gave Troy a questioning look as he jumped down from the small window ledge. Troy gave him a 'I'll tell you later' look and closed the window.

"You ready dude." Chad asked.

Troy walked to Gabriella and softly touched her. She jumped a little but didn't recoil. He became a little bolder and wrapped an arm around her shoulders pulling her close to him. He looked at Chad.

"Let's get the hell out of here."

They made their way around the house…ducking every time they approached a window. They finally made their way to the front and quickly made their way out of the front yard and towards Troy's truck.

"Here Chad."

Troy dug in his pockets and got his keys giving them to Chad. "Drive."

While Chad got into the driver's seat Troy led Gabriella to the back seat getting in with her. He was a little shocked that she stayed in his arms and didn't move. She had her head in the crook of his neck and he could feel the wetness of her tears falling on him though she didn't make a sound. Troy rubbed her back softly.

"You'll never have to see him again Gabriella. I promise."

She said nothing. Troy looked up to see Chad looking at him through the rearview mirror. Chad had sighed deeply and shook his head as Troy gave him a sad look, though he had promised Gabriella everything would be alright he really had no idea what to do now

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.

**A/N: I hope you guys liked the chapter…if not then…oh well…write your own story…haha…You guys did so good last time reviewing, so you should do it again…review on the other chapters also…I've been getting a few reviews from like chapter 2 and 4 and stuff those are still welcome.**


	12. The Talk

**A/N: Thankz guys for all the reviews that you guys wrote. I mean they were awesome! They made my day soo yea! Hmm… So the next gift for the one's that review will be…**

**FOUR FREE MOVIES PASSES TO THE MOVIE OF YOUR CHOICE….yeah kinda running out of idea for gifts lol.**

**So here is the next installment and I hope you guys like it. Sorry it took me so long, I working overtime for Christmas, which still isn't paying me enough money so times have been hard. I don't know if I'll have another chapter up by Christmas but if I don't I hope everyone has a good one and gets good presents even though the economy sucks…anyways…yeah so here ya go. **

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Chapter 12

Scared was not the word for the dominate emotion that was running through Gabriella's body. The words like terrified, horrified, and petrified, would have been betters words. On top of that she felt tired, pain, and she even felt a bit of happiness. And when she sorted all her emotions to get to that happy part she suddenly felt guilty afterwards. She shouldn't have been happy that she had left her father. The one person that actually loved her. He was just trying to teach her…the way parents all taught their children. Right? She was just being taught valuable lessons.

She didn't feel the car move the whole time while they were driving. Instead she had placed herself in Troy's arms and cried. Cried about her father, cried that she hurt, and cried because Troy knew. Now he would take pity on her, he would make sure that she was alright then let her go…besides who wanted to be stuck with a person like her, someone who was probably a head case. He didn't need someone like her, someone who would cause a dent in his career. She even kind of felt that she didn't want to be with him. She just didn't think that she could be with someone so…good when she was so…bad.

She opened her eyes as she heard a car door slam and she lifted herself from Troy looking around. She felt as though she could barely see, her vision was a bit blurry from the tears and her swollen eyes. The sunlight hurt them for a moment and she squinted against it. She turned to look at Troy who slipped away from her. She longed for his touch, for his nearness. He had opened the door and stepped out of the truck. Gabriella didn't move.

She watched as he talked to Chad who was leaning against the driver's side truck. She could hear them talking but didn't comprehend what they were saying. Their voices were too low. She saw Troy look in on her and smile softly. He reached out his hand and she looked at it.

"Come on Gabriella." He said softly.

It wasn't as though she didn't want to touch him again…because she loved being near him it was just she felt…unworthy to touch him or have him touch her. Especially now that he knew that that she was nothing but a poor, little, abused girl, who was weak as a piece of string. She slowly placed her hand into his and let him pull her out of the car. She cringed to herself as he placed his arms around her. God this was painful.

She suddenly looked around to see where she was at. Her eyes first landed on the long drive way that was made of what looked like shiny brick. She could barely see the main street from where they were. They large space of ground was covered with the greenest grass that she had ever seen, with a multiple of flowers planted here and there as well as trees. There was a tall brick security fence that surrounded the property. Her eyes then traveled to the house that was in front of her. It was a pretty big house. A bit bigger than Chad's. Her eyes widen as she look in its beauty. It was a long cream colored villa with the most beautiful carvings on it that she had ever seen. There were no stairs that led to the front door but instead you walked underneath an archway. There were plants surrounding the outside which were beautiful also. It wasn't as tall as a house as it was very long but she knew that it had to have at least another floor to it.

She looked up at Troy and gave him a questioning look.

"My home." He said quietly leading her to the door.

She turned around as she heard Troy's car start up and Chad circling around the driveway leaving. She didn't ask why Chad was leaving with his truck. She really didn't care

"Come on."

She let him lead her though the front door and though she didn't gasp or have the look of surprised on her face she was impressed. There was a wide circular room as soon as you walked in. It was large with your basic white walls but the walls seemed to be whiter than most. Probably because of the huge chandelier that was hanging up right above a circular table that had an assortment of flowers on it. There were a couple of painting but everything was very simple. There was a short staircase straight ahead that led to the next floor. Though it was a bit short it was very elegant, the rails on the stairs seemed to be carved into swirly details.

Her eyes looked further down the house and she realized that there were different rooms going off of this circular one.

"Do you want a tour?" Troy asked her with a smile.

Gabriella looked at him but said nothing. She couldn't say anything. It was like her voice was stuck in the back of her throat pushing itself against her so not to talk. She gave him no indication of if she wanted a tour or not. Mostly because she was still in shocked about what just happened. She didn't know how to deal with it. She didn't know what she was going to do. It seemed as though she should have been happy that she was out of that hell hole because she herself had called it that…but she felt incredible guilty not just because she didn't tell Troy but because she had left the one person that loved her, and then she felt guilty that she felt guilty about that. She felt like the spattered paint once again.

She wanted it to be over. She wanted to have a normal life…but she knew that that would never happen. She wanted to…to sleep. That was it she just wanted to sleep all her problems away. She continued to look at him and was a bit shocked at the amount of concern that he had on his face. It made her feel uncomfortable…as though the look on his face was real, nothing fake about it.

"I want to sleep." She said hoarsely, making herself talk.

Troy nodded his head and quickly grabbed her hand leading her up the stairs. Once they reached the short distance to the top Troy led her down a wide, hallway that had doors leading off. She figured that these were the bedrooms. She closed her eyes as he continued to lead her around a corner. She was feeling a headache coming on and now all she wanted to do is pass out.

"You can have this room." He said opening the door.

The room was gorgeous but once again Gabriella didn't express any kind of joy in seeing it. It was a pretty big room, it was light pink flowery tiles floor instead of carpet. The walls were a soft cream with decorative detail. As soon as you walked in there was a mahogany vanity with a mirror above it to the left. In the corner was a soft pink almost cream like lounge chair with a tall lamp behind it. One window was in the room and it was pretty big with dark brownish, pinkish drapes outlining it. Two chairs and a small table sat in front of it. The bed was the biggest bed that Gabriella had ever seen. It had a thin head board in back of it…the blankets were a soft pink with about four or five pillows on it. There was a wooden and pink bench at the foot of the bed.

She immediately let go of Troy's hand and walked over to the bed sitting down on it. She smiled softly. She had never slept in a bed before…a mattress on the floor yeah but a bed, and a huge bed at that. The blankets were silk and Gabriella was sure she never felt anything so soft. She laid on it turning her back to Troy and facing the window as she closed her eyes.

Troy sighed as he looked at her back.

"Are you hungry?" he asked her. "I can try and make something to eat by the time you wake up."

No answer.

He pressed his lips together, "Do you wanna talk about anything Gabi?" he asked but still he got no answer.

He wanted to go to her and lay down with her in his arms. Comforting her, telling her everything was going to be okay, but he knew that she probably wouldn't let him anywhere near her like that. He wanted to be the one to make that look of hurt evaporate out of her eyes and be replaced by happiness. He wanted so much.

He turned around and prepared to leave when her voice stopped him.

"You're not mad at me because I didn't want the tour, are you?" she asked.

Troy lifted an eyebrow. What kind of question was that? He sighed again and shook his head. "No, I'm not mad baby."

She said nothing else and Troy walked out of the guest room closing the door softly. He leaned against the door and rubbed his hands over his face sighing as he did so. He didn't know what to do now. Should he wait until she woke up and then they would talk…did she even want to talk about it and if she didn't were they going to go on like nothing happened.

What about her father…would he go out looking for her? Troy was pretty sure he didn't know him just his name and how many Troy's were in the country. It wasn't like he could track her down. What about her school and friends? There was no way he was going to let her go back to that school. That was probably the first place her father would look. And friends…what would that say once they figured out that Gabriella wasn't at school for days?

And what about her emotionally? Did she even still want to be with him? Would she allow him to hold her and kiss her? She did before, it didn't seem like she had a problem. But now everything changed because now he knew.

He pushed himself off of his door and made his way down the stairs and went to his kitchen. He would try and fix her something to eat. Troy wasn't a cook and usually when he had to cook for himself he just made box stuff like macaroni and cheese, or that salad stuff that came in the box.

He looked through the large refrigerator and took out a premade chicken. He read the direction and smiled. Pretty easy all he had to do was put it in the microwave. Troy decided against that and put it in the oven…that way by the time that Gabriella woke up it might still be hot and oven food was always better then microwave.

He sat up on his island count and looked down at the ground. This was his entire fault. He should have seen the signs…should have listened to Sharpay. Troy went over every moment he had with her. The second time he met her and Chad threw the football at her head, he had said there was a bruise there. Troy scoffed at himself. There was no way a bruise formed that quickly…it was from her father.

The kiss at the beach and the tiny argument they had after it. He remembered her pressing herself against the car window. Did she think that he was going to hit her or something? They way that she tried to get the cheapest thing when they went out to eat… how she shy and timid…he had thought it was all just because she was hanging out with him when in reality…she was being fucked up at home.

He should have listened to Sharpay. He wondered if she figured it out or just knew something was wrong.

He was so deep in his thoughts that he jumped when he felt his phone go off in his pants pockets. He took it out and looked at the caller ID before answering it.

"Hey."

"Hey."

There was a silence.

"So how is she?" Chad asked.

"I don't know…she's only said two sentences since she's been here. I'm sleepy and are you made at me for not taking a tour of the house. She's sleeping right now."

"What are you planning on doing?"

"I have no fucking clue. I mean I never thought in my life that I was going to have to deal with a girlfriend that was abused by her father. Should I like take her to a doctor or something?"

"Like a psychiatrist?"

"I don't know…yeah I guess."

"Maybe you should ask her what she wants to do." Chad said sighing.

Troy was silent for a moment. He heard Chad on the other end arguing softly with Taylor.

"I said no Tay." He heard Chad whisper. "Look he's my best friend and—"

"Troy!" Taylor voice came on the phone.

"Yeah Tay."

"Chad told me what happened and…how is she? Is she alright?"

"I don't know."

"What are you going to do?"

"Did you not just hear the conversation I had with Chad?" Troy laughed.

"Well I don't know what else to say." Taylor said softly. "Look Troy I know you don't want to think about it but I think you need to be careful."

"Careful."

"You and Chad just committed a crime."

"A crime?"

"Yeah kidnapping Gabriella."

"What! I didn't fucking kidnap her. She came willing. Plus that stupid fucker that is supposedly her father was the one committing crimes beating the shit out of her and stuff." Troy yelled into the phone.

"I know…I know…but you just have to be careful. The law system is…crazy and…she's underage Troy. She still is under the guardianship of her father."

"Well he shouldn't be."

"But he is. Unless you go to the police and tell them what happened."

Troy sighed. "I don't know if Gabi wants that or not."

"Okay…umm…what about her education? What are you going to do, put her in another school? If she doesn't go to school that's against the law. And to get her into another school she needs medical records, birth certificate, social security number…does she have that?"

Troy placed a hand to his hand and closed his eyes tightly. "Look Taylor I appreciate everything you're telling me, but right now I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to get her to talk to me. "

Taylor was silent for a moment and he heard her take a deep breath. "Yeah…I'm sorry. I guess I got ahead of myself wanting her to go one with her life and everything."

Troy said nothing.

"Chad told me everything. About the hitting and stuff…was it was bad as Chad made it?"

"Yeah. I've never seen a man hit a women before…you know personally and it made me sick."

"You're just going to have to be calm, and gentle with her Troy. She might feel a bit apprehensive around you. She might even feel like you'll treat her like her father did."

"I'd never lay a hand on her!" Troy seethed.

"I know that but she doesn't. "

Troy sighed and bit his lip. "I gotta go, tell Chad I'll talk to him later."

Troy placed the phone beside him and looked out the long window that was above the kitchen sink. He had a lot to think about, a lot to do. Taylor had just continued to add to the worries that he already had floating through his mind. He took a deep breath and hopped off the island counter and headed towards the living room. He had a lot of thinking to do and he might as well be comfortable while he was at it.

&&&

Gabriella eyes blinked rapidly as she sat up slowly on the silk covered bed. Her eyes went to the window and she noticed that it was dusk. She took a deep breath. She dreaded leaving the room because she knew what was going to happen. Troy would want to talk, and she didn't know if she was ready for it. She didn't want to tell him, she didn't want to talk. She just wanted to forget about everything like nothing had happened.

She stood up and stretched. That wasn't going to happen. She crossed her arms and made her way out of the room. She might as well get it over with. As soon as she told him the truth about everything…the sooner he would kick her out and she'd be on her own.

Gabriella cracked open the door looking both way to see if he was out there, she had heard him lean against the door when he had left her. He was nowhere to be seen. She opened the door all the way and stepped out following the path where he had led her down in the first place. She looked around the house and couldn't help but actually be amazed about how beautiful it was. Chad's home was pretty nice but Troy's…his was very elegant. She finally reached the small staircase and made her way down into the circular room and she took a deep breath.

She quickly placed her hands over her nose as she smelled something burning. She looked around to see if she could see any smoke but she couldn't. She quickly made her way into one of the archways that led off of the circular room.

"Troy?" she called out but there was no answer.

Her eyes fell on a very simple but very chic dining room table that had silver and black dishware sitting on top as though it had never been used. She looked up and noticed thin smoke filling the room that came from the room that led off of the dining room. She rushed in and coughed as she saw the oven leaking smoke. She frowned as she looked around the spacious kitchen.

"Troy!" she called out. She wondered where he was at. Maybe he was sleeping also. She looked through the thin smoke for some oven mitts she found a pair sitting on top a stainless steel microwave. She slipped them on before opening the stove. A huge billow of gray smoke rushed out and Gabriella covered her face with the mitt, her eyes tearing from the smoke. The smell was terrible. She tried to fan the smoke away as she bent down and picked up the burnt pan that looked like it had a chicken on it. The smoke detector suddenly went off making a high pitched beeping noise.

She sat it on the counter closing the over door. She coughed a little from the smoke.

"Gabriella!"

Gabriella looked up to see Troy skidding into the kitchen. She smiled softly up at him as he fanned the smoke from his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked above the noise.

She nodded her head and looked back down at the burnt chicken. "I'm fine but I don't know about this chicken." She laughed uncomfortable.

"Shit!" Troy said looking down at it. "I'm so sorry. I was going to make you something to eat just in case you were hungry when you woke up, but I fell asleep in the living room and completely forgot about it…damn it. Are you okay?" he yelled quickly pushing his hair away from his face.

"Yeah Troy. Calm down." She said smiling at him.

He groaned as the phone started to ring. He quickly went to pick it up. Gabriella turned around and opened the window to let some of the smoke out. She looked over at Troy who had hung up the phone and the beeping suddenly stopped.

"That was the insurance people. I have this security/fire system thing." He explained. He sighed and looked around at the thinning smoke. "I'm sorry…"

"Troy really its okay. Believe me I've burnt chicken before also." She said sighing. "I wasn't hungry anyway."

They looked at each other the tension suddenly becoming thick each not knowing what to say. Gabriella crossed her arms around her and looked down at the ground, sighing. God she really didn't want to do this.

"If you're not hungry I think we should talk then." Troy said softly watching her as she looked up with a terrified look on her face. "I just wanna talk. That's all."

Gabriella nodded her head and he led her into the living room where it was a little bit less foggy. She felt her hands getting sweaty and she twisted them together squeezing her fingers. Her heart was beating erratically beneath her breast. The nerves were coming back full force. She knew that once they talked he was going to look at her in a different light. A pity light, a disgusting light. She closed her eyes tightly taking a deep breath before opening them again as she continued to follow him.

If Gabriella was nervous it was nothing how Troy was feeling. He was absolutely terrified of what would come out of her mouth. He worried that he wouldn't be able to comfort her, wouldn't be able to make her believe that everything would be alright. He sighed as he sat down on the couch and motioned her to sit.

They stared at each other for a few seconds each other thinking their own thoughts, each wondering who would start the awkward conversation. Troy eyes roamed over her and he had to the thoughts that she looked beautiful. Her hair was in a tangled mess from her sleeping, Her eyes were a bit red from the smoke, her face was a bit pale, but she was still a beauty. He cleared his throat and decided to start since it was obvious that she was too nervous to actually start talking first.

"Ummm…so. The talk." He said and rubbed his palms on his pants. "Ummm…"

"You wanna know about my father and me?" Gabriella asked. She could see that he was having a hard time trying to come up with words to say what he needed to say. She suddenly just wanted this conversation to be over with, done. "My father and I have a very…unique relationship."

"Unique?"

"Hmm… I do something wrong. I disobey him, I lie to him, and he punishes me. Haven't been punished by your parents."

"Punished by my parents?"

"Are you going to answer every question with a question?"

"No." Troy sighed and leaned back into the couch. "Yeah, my parents have grounded me, took away my stuff, maybe even spanked me when I was younger, but they never actually hit me before."

Gabriella tilted her head at him. "I think that it's the same thing. Spanking and hitting Troy…"

"No it's not. My parents spanked me out of love—"

"And my father "hits" me as you call it out of love." Gabriella snapped. "Look I don't even call it hitting. He's just disciplining me."

"Really? By throwing you against a fucking stove. Creating busies on the side of your head."

"He—"

"What did he do to your leg Gabriella" Troy asked cutting her off. "I should have known that no fucking softball hit you in the leg, that was just too…what did he do?"

Gabriella shook her head and crossed her arms.

"Come on Gabi. Please tell me what the hell he did to you. Did he actually discipline you?"

"I lied to him. That's what I did. "

"What did he do to you?"

"He disciplined me."

Troy eyes narrowed towards her but he didn't move. He didn't want her to feel threaten in anyway. He kept his voice low and calm even though he was he actually wanted to release the anger that was inside of him because she wasn't answering his question.

"Gabriella, what did he do?"

Gabriella took her eyes off of him and looked at the large flat screen television that was hanging on the wall across from them. She sighed, "He cut me. Sliced my leg open. Then threw alcohol on it."

Troy glanced at her covered leg and closed his eyes. He pressed his lips together as not to stand up and start cursing the bastard in front of her. "Okay, and you still think that was, discipline?"

"Of course. Do you even know why he pour alcohol on it? So it wouldn't get infected."

"Fuck that Gabriella." Troy said a sneer on his face. "He did it to hurt you."

She just shook her head.

Troy sighed, "How long has this been going on? Him _punishing_ you."

Gabriella looked at him and shrugged her slim shoulders deep breath. "Umm…for a while. Probably like in fifth grade."

"Fifth grade? That young?"

"Come on Troy. He was just trying to raise me as best as he could. Everything he did, he did because he loves me. He didn't want me to grow up as some disappointment."

"Gabriella, he doesn't do it because he loves you he does it because he feels powerful when he lays his hands on you. There's no love there."

Gabriella frowned at him before laughing. She shook her head. "No. He loves me Troy. You don't know anything."

Troy pressed his lips together tightly. "Would you ever strike you're children the way your father strikes you?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Of course not."

"Why not? I mean, you would be disciplining them, helping them out in life."

"No. I would never hit my children. It wouldn't help them. I wouldn't put them though the pain and torture that my—" She cut off and looked at him. Tears came to her eyes as she realized what she had just said. Pain and Torture. She pushed her hair away from her face and stood up. Everything in her view disappeared. Love, pain, and torture. Was that what it was? Every hit, every yell, every fatherly kiss. No. It wasn't love, pain and torture. It was just the pain and torture. What she had to go through for years and years. The hurting, and crying. That was what it was. But love had to be a factor in it in some way, right?

"Do you see it now?" Troy whispered. "Gabi…"

Gabriella stopped pacing and looked at him. She said nothing and Troy could tell that even though she had gotten it through her head there was still some sort of hope that it wasn't true that her father really was the god-like man that she thought he was.

"I told you earlier, that no one would ever hurt you again." He told her as he watched her stand in front of him. "That's a promise I plan on keeping."

"Hmm…" He watched as she walked across the living room and looked out the large wall like window that over looked outside. "What am I going do?" she whispered.

Troy stood up and walked over to her. He didn't touch her but instead stood right next to her looking down at her. "Well I've been thinking. You can stay here with me."

She looked up at him a confused look on her face. She chuckled a bit before smiling and shaking her head. "No, no Troy. I mean…" she took a deep breath. "What about…school? And…and my dad and…"

"I've figured it all out. Your dad doesn't know me. He wouldn't ever think that you were staying with Troy Bolton. And school…well I know you got a whole year left but what if I got you like a homeschooled tutor."

"Homeschooled?"

"Yeah. I mean I'm going to be leaving soon and…I want you to come with me. I wouldn't be able to leave you here alone." He leaned against the window and crossed his arms still staring at her. "You can call your friends and tell them—"

"No need. I have no friends." She quickly interrupted looking back out the window.

"What do you mean you have no friends? At school or something?"

"No friends. Anywhere. So no one will miss me."

Troy sighed. She looked so miserable as she said those words. "I'll miss you if you're not here with me, Gabi."

She looked up at him with a soft smile on her face. "You really like me don't you Troy."

Troy laughed. "Yes I do. I'm glad that you realize that. "

What happened next astounded Troy. Not only did it astound him he was absolutely flabbergasted. Gabriella had suddenly flung herself in his arms jumping and wrapping her slim legs around him. Gabriella reached her arms around his neck and threaded her fingers though his hair as she pulled his face down to met hers. Their lips melded together. Almost instantly the excitement was concrete in the air around them. Troy crushed her against his chest, playing with the softness of her lips as he walked towards the couch. He sat down emitting a low groan from Gabriella as she continue to be on top of him kissing him deeper. She could feel the heat rising between them. She was aware of every single place their bodies were in contact. She had to do this. Had to make this kiss make all the thoughts, the dreams, her life, fade into oblivion. She lost herself in the kiss and was pleased that she was able to do so. Her heart was hammering in her chest and her breathing was ragged.

Actually being able to kiss his girlfriend again in the way that he had wanted to kiss her for some time now had gotten to Troy. He himself ran his hands though her dark mass of hair pulling her as close as he could to her. He was surprised that she had been this forceful with him, kissing him back with just as much passion. Gone was the shy, timid girl, and now he had a wild seductress in his arms, and he didn't mind it at all. He could feel her hands running up and down his shirt, pulling at it as though she wanted it off. Troy pulled back from the kiss and stared at her. Her lids fluttered open and her eyes were smoldering with passion, desire, and hurt. Breathing harshly, Troy frowned and cursed at himself.

He should have known. She was trying to get rid of the pain. He could see it in her eyes. He continued to take deep breaths trying to get his breathing under control as well as another part of his anatomy that he hoped she hadn't felt but he wouldn't be surprised since she was sitting right on top of him.

Troy's eyes widen as she bent down and started to kiss his neck. God she had the softest lips. He was about to place his own lips at the base of her neck when he snapped out of his passion like state. He pushed her up from his neck and looked up at him. He had the hardest time not to stare at her chest that was currently heaving in front of his face. Right now wasn't the time. At all.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her hands still playing with his shirt.

"We can't do this."

Gabriella laughed. "What do you mean silly? Of course we can." She leaned down and kissed him again letting her lips linger. Troy moaned before leaned back away from the kiss.

"No we can't. I like you. I mean you are so, intoxicating to me, I'm infatuated with you and not only on a physically level but a emotional one I'd like to think."

Gabriella nodded her head. "Okay then. We have emotional out the way all we need now is to concentrate on the physically, we should practice that part." She leaned back down again but Troy leaned back.

"No. Gabriella the only reason you're doing this is to get rid of your pain, and I'll help you get rid of it." he ran his fingers through her hair again, "But not like this."

Gabriella narrowed her eyes. "I thought you said you liked me?"

"I do. Didn't you just hear me say that?"

Troy watched as she licked her lips. She took a deep breath and shook her head.

"Okay then, if you like me, then we'll do this. " she said.

Troy jumped as he felt her small hands on his hard stomach. She ran her fingernails softly across it and Troy closed his eyes, mentally telling himself not to respond at all. But God it felt so good. He grabbed her hands and placed them outside of his shirt.

"What's wrong Troy? Come on you said you like me. My father's friends like me and they want to do this with me. Why don't you?"

Troy frowned and gasped. "Your father's friends? They've touched you?"

"Of course they have." She laughed "They like me. Like you like me, and when you like someone one to do the likey." She giggled leaned in to capture his lips again Troy let her kiss him but he didn't respond. He instead thought about what she had just said.

"Did they um—"he took a deep breath, "Did they ever have sex with you or rape you, Gabriella."

She rolled her eyes and continued down his neck though Troy did nothing. "No. But they tried. I was scared at the time and I shouldn't have been. But, now I'm not so let's get this started." She said stretching his shirt neck out so she could kiss his shoulder. Troy grabbed her by the arms and pushed her away.

"No. Gabriella. We can't do it this way. You would regret it, I…I would regret it."

"It's just sex Troy."

"No it's not. I want it to me more for you. Not just some way to take away the pain." He sighed. "Let's just think and calm down."

Troy looked at her as her eyes widen and her mouth dropped open in a bit of shock. "I don't want to calm down. I want to have sex."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"I want you to fuck me now!"she screamed

Troy shook his head. Those brown eyes had developed tears and Troy reached up to hug her but instead she jumped out of his lap and walked out of the living room.

"Where are you going?"

"Home."

Troy jumped up and followed her. She had reached the front door and swung it open letting it hit that wall hard before walking out the house. Troy followed her. He couldn't believe after everything they had talked about she was actually wanting to go back home. He couldn't help but to think that the girl that he was so obsessed with was a bit crazy and it was all her fucking father's fault.

Troy followed her down the dark path. He couldn't be more grateful that the darkness covered them, or that he had actually got the secrety fense to keep his privicay. He caught up with her and grabbed her arm turning her around.

"Where the hell are you going again?" he asked trying not to raise his voice or seeth at her but it was getting more difficult.

"I said I'm going home. To my father. Someone who actually likes me, who loves me. Who wants me."

"Like hell he 're confusing me, you say he hits you out of love and then you want to have sex to take away the pain. Which is it pain or love."

"Oh shut up Troy! You don't know anything about him or me." She yanked her arm out of his grip and continued to walk.

Troy groaned and caught up with her again. "I'm getting mad Gabriella."

He hear her laugh. "What are you going to do hit me?"

"I would never ever hit you! No matter how angry I get I would never lay my hands on you for that purpose." He yelled. "Just listen to me—"

He hear her laugh. "What are you going to do hit me?"

"I would never ever hit you! No matter how angry I get I would never lay my hands on you for that purpose." He yelled. "Just listen to me—"

"No! You listen to me Troy Bolton. I don't need you. I don't want you. I don't want anything you have to offer."

Troy stopped in his steps as he felt like he had just been dealt a blow to his stomach. He watched as she looked back at him and continued to walk away. He looked at her back as she walked slowly down the long driveway. Suddenly everything that he had thought when he first hadn't heard from her came back. He pressed his lips together and shook his head sadly. She didn't want him. He was right. Just because he tried to help her didn't mean that she wanted to be with him. He didn't even take in the fact that she was just angry and hurt that she had said things that she hadn't meant to.

Troy watched as Gabriella suddenly stopped. He frowned as she turned around with tears running down her face. She suddenly fell to the ground letting out loud wails. It tore at Troy's heart. He rushed to her dropping to the ground forgetting everything that she had just said. His arms wrapped around her slim body and he could feel her shaking. He rocked her back and forth tears making their way out of his own eyes.

"I hate him." She cried, the words barely coming out of her mouth. "I hate him so much. Everything he did to me. The rants, yelling, and hitting, the manipulating. God I hate him."

Troy closed his eyes against her hair and let her talk.

"The things that he made me do. The things that he did. The drugs and the drinking and the girls. I fucking hate him."

"I know baby." He whispered to her not knowing if she heard him or not.

She took several trembling breaths to calm herself down, soft hiccups making their way out of her mouth. She was the reddest Troy had ever seen and her whole face was wet with tears. He sighed deeply squeezing her tight.

"I hate him Troy." She whispered. "But why do I feel so guilty. I mean he's the only one who's actually been there. No one else has."

Troy held her back so he could look deeply into her eyes. He pushed her hair way from her face, and held her head in the palm of his hands. "You have me Gabriella." He soothed to her. "You will always have me. I promise. God I promise."

The vulnerable look that she gave him nearly broke his heart. She brought a hand up to his that continued to hold her face, and she gave him a bit of a squeeze. Troy leaned down and brushed his lips against hers in a soft kiss. Not a kiss of lust, or passion, out of angry, or irritation. It was a kiss of promise. A promise that was made in the outside sitting in the middle of a long driveway.

* * *

**A/N: Okay between my job and my best friend coming from college this holiday, I'm going to be super busy and I might need an idea muse. If anyone has any ideas PM them to me, maybe it'll get my creative jucices going or something. Don't put them in the reviews, cause I don't want everyone else to know. Okay now you know what to do, you have to review because if you don't well…then you don't but I'd really like it if you did. **


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